


The Mind Breaker's Tale

by Red_Crow



Series: NijiAka Multiverse [3]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Akakuro - Freeform, Akakuro will split, Alternate Universe, AoKuro - Freeform, Child Neglect, GoM are mutants, Hurt, M/M, Mutant Powers, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, Possessive Behavior, Spies, These tags are nothing to me, Torture, confusion to the max, everyone loves kuroko, experimenting on humans, kingdom fic, nijiaka - Freeform, not really finished but ends on a good note, poor Nijimura, trash ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-30
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-01-20 11:19:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 37,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12431715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Crow/pseuds/Red_Crow
Summary: Nijimura is a spy for the Black Kingdom however while spying on the enemy he gets caught, and even though everyone has complete trust that he will die before any information is given away, Nijimura still struggles to keep his mouth close when the crown prince of the kingdom over is his first crush from his childhood. He is suddenly confronted with his feelings and questioning loyalties. Even when he learns it would be impossible for them to be together. What will he do now?





	1. Oh hey, haven't seen you in a while!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Years later Nijimura finds himself in a interesting situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, and thx even more to my wonderful beta for this chapter berrybliss, who probably cares more about this than i do.

Nijimura spat out blood onto the cold floor.  
Then there was another kick to his stomach, and he could feel the iron tasting plasma in the back of his mouth welling up.

“I’m not going to tell you anything, you creeps!” He shouted back at his captors. His head spun slightly at the force. He gritted his teeth, thinking back to how he got into this situation. He had been spying on the neighboring kingdom for a little under a year and had gotten reckless. Because of this, he and Kagami almost got caught sneaking information across the border. Luckily, he was able to distract the guards long enough for Kagami and the information to make it to the other side.

However, this meant completely sacrificing himself to his captors, who were now using old, archaic methods to try to get information out of him.

He may not have been the best spy for his kingdom, but his loyalty to Prince Tatsuya was unquestionable. Nijimura could endure and hold his tongue better than anyone - he had been keeping secrets his whole life, after all.

“Ha,” One of the guards scoffed, “Is that so? Well, lucky for you, we have a guest. You had better be good to him.”

“Who is it?” Nijimura asked before he could stop himself.

“The crown prince himself, Akashi Seijuurou.” The guard laughed when Nijimura’s eyes got wide. It had been years since he’d last heard that name.

“Yeah? And what is some rich snob going to do to me? Waterboard me with money?” He snarled. It hurt him to say those things about Akashi, and he had to imagine that he was talking about someone else just to get the words out with the proper emotion.

“Ha, you wish. We know that you were spying on our experiment facilities, so you already knew, didn’t you? He’s called the Mind Breaker, so you better watch out.”

Nijimura’s mind went blank. With rage or shock, he didn’t know. He knew that this cruel country experimented on children, but he hadn’t known that they experimented on their own prince too. _Akashi._ They had experimented on Akashi.

Then, the door slowly creaked open. The room went silent. It felt like the air had stopped moving. In an all-black military uniform and with a hat covering his eyes, the red-head prince slowly walked into the room.

Akashi. Nijimura didn’t know how to react to his presence he had so much he wanted to say, but at the same time he didn’t want to speak. He longed to see Akashi’s face, which was currently hidden in shadow… but Nijimura also wanted him to turn around, walk away, never see him ever again. He swallowed in anticipation when Akashi stopped in front of him and motioned for the guards to leave.

Nijimura’s whole body reacted with a shiver as he looked at the Prince. He swallowed again, and tried to be alert as he could be. This Akashi was not the one he knew, not the one from his childhood - the one from his childhood was pure, not a breaker of men. All the memories started flooding into his mind. He had spent so much time forgetting about the red head that they surprised him now with their blinding clarity. He thought that he had lost that past, but with Akashi standing in front of him, they rushed back into his mind.

He’d kept it a secret from the Black Kingdom, which he had been spying for, but he originally came from the Red Kingdom. It wasn’t until his father got ill that they had attempted to run away to the Black Kingdom to try and find him some medicine. Nijimura never told Akashi that he was leaving, and never thought that he would be seeing him again.

Ah, he remembered his prince now, the sweet young boy he had grown to love. Nijimura’s family was poorer, a noble house that had lost all symbols of status. In order to try to change that, Nijimura had been sent to live with the Akashis, the rulers of the Red Kingdom, as a valet for their son Seijuurou. Nijimura had originally hated the idea, and hated working even more, but over time, he grew to become friends with the prince.

The child had recently lost his mother, and his father had gone on raging. He destroyed everything his wife had built in attempt to remove the pain of remembering her, and to remove her memory from anything he could. He was a man and pain, and there was no one there to put him in check - that had been his wife’s job. Because of this, no one had time to worry about the prince when their king was getting rid of any health aid the people had, and any other law his mother had put in place.

It was the beginning of corruption as greedy liars began to fill the court of the broken king.

Nijimura hadn’t known that at the time - he was just a kid back then, but he could tell that Akashi understood, and that he was hurting because of it, but couldn’t show his feelings. If Nijimura ever confronted him, Akashi just told him it wouldn’t change a thing, and that he didn’t express himself because it was unbecoming of an Akashi to look weak.

Nijimura then tried his hardest at all times to be there for Akashi, and one morning while bringing him breakfast, Akashi slammed into him as he opened the door and sobbed into his shirt. For hours, Nijimura just sat there and comforted him. Whenever he tried to peel Akashi away, the boy would just hold on tighter. Eventually, he told Nijimura to close his eyes, running into the bathroom so that he could claim that no one ever saw him cry. That was when Nijimura had started having his hopeless crush on the prince. He was the only one who ever saw, well, heard - his emotions. And he wanted to keep it that way.

After that, the two were closer, doing almost anything they could together, even sharing a bed after parties when it was too late to send Nijimura back to his own house. There, in the darkness Akashi would get as close as he ever did to spilling his feelings. His most compromising words were “I’m not happy right now, but Shuzo, you make it better.” And in those times Nijimura would hug him close and think how much he never wanted to let go, and that he didn’t want anyone else to hear Akashi cry, just him. If anything was wrong, only Nijimura could know.

 One time about a week before his family fled the Kingdom, knowing the king had blocked the borders and wouldn’t let anyone leave, he said it out loud to Akashi. Both sets of eyes went wide, but in the end Akashi agreed, and Nijimura held him all night long.

When his family ran away, he hadn’t given much thought to the promise he made with Akashi, or what that might do to him. Later, he tried to forget everything about the Red Kingdom, including the Red Prince. He didn’t allow himself to say that he had ever been there - it just would have been harder on his family. They became another random family living in the Black Kingdom with all their loyalties lying with the Black Kingdom, not a former noble family with connections to the Red Kingdom.

But all of these memories flashed through his mind in seconds as Akashi stared down at him through the shadows, making Nijimura nervous. He was now a spy, not a boy, and Akashi was now the enemy - not his master and certainly not his friend.

After the door closed behind them, Akashi finally raised his head and took off his hat, showing his face. At first it was the face of an angel, with creamy pale skin highlighted by the dark clothing, and bright, healthy red hair, vibrant and demanding. It always gave him the room’s attention as soon as he walked in. Then, there were his wonderful eyes, and Nijimura looked up so that he could see the prince’s eyes better, he expected to see their soft crimson, but instead, he only saw a hard gold.

Suddenly, the angel had turned to a demon, his face hard and strict. His posture was relaxed, but it was one perfectly capable of leaving people on edge. His hair looked like hellfire with his blazing heterochromatic eyes. One was a harsh gold color that seemed to bear through him, and the crimson red one which he had known to be sweet, was bitter and cold.

But the worst part was next. Akashi’s eye glowed and then he heard a voice speak in his mind,  _Hello, Shuzo._ The voice was smooth and cold, like ice. It was in sharp contrast compared to the warm voice he had once known. _I am glad to see you alive after all these years._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to write some Nijiaka. this is the shortest chapter.   
> Comments are very much appreciated! also I am still looking for a permanent beta!


	2. Want to come over and hang out?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akashi interrogates Nijimura.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has been rebeated on 11/09/18 not much has changed so you don't have to re-read, it's about 100 words added from the original.

_Hello Shuzo. I am glad to see you alive after all these years._

 The words were in his mind and it took him a moment to breathe. Akashi had never called him Shuzo and even if he had asked him to, he always kept it professional except those few times in the dark where he had opened himself up ever so slightly to the point he allowed Nijimura to hold him.

 _It has been years since I have seen you_ , He lazily said into his mind while tracing the lines of Nijimura’s face, his eyes still cold and humourless. Nijimura’s eyes widened; this was definitely not the Akashi he knew.

What had those scientists done to him?

 _Oh, there is so much you don’t understand but well, we are not here for that today. We are here for the information you stole from_ me. Akashi grabbed his cheeks, pushing them together. _Let us begin_.

Nijimura barely had time to think about Akashi reading his thoughts and wondering how far he could go before he felt every nerve in his body scream out as if they were on fire, his mind feeling like it was melting through his skull. After the psychic blast, he thought his brain might have turned to goo as blood trickled down his face from his nose.  Akashi’s eyes narrowed.

“Tell me what I want to know and you can go free, Nijimura.” He turned his head so that Nijimura couldn’t see his yellow eye and for a moment he almost looked like his old self. Nijimura just gritted his teeth. He needed some resolve in this, something to keep him from spilling the beans. However, his mind was reeling though with all that had happened. He could hardly think.

 He closed his eyes in attempting to focus. He needed to stay strong as long as he could and he had a mission he couldn’t afford to fail.

_Ah, but you did fail._

Nijimura’s eyes flew open as he looked at Akashi glared down at him with disgust. Nijimura swallowed down the bile creeping up his throat. This was not Akashi, it wasn’t Seijuro. _I am a spy of the Black Kingdom; I am a spy of the Black Kingdom_. He chanted this mantra in his head like his life depended on it.

Akashi turned slightly. _Very well then, die like the scum you are, bastard_.

He then moved his face within inches of Nijimura’s face and his eyes glowed sadistically with red rings inside them.

All Nijimura could feel was pain. Pain from mind and pain from the words Akashi has said. He wanted to stare death in the eye, in the frozen glowing gold pool, but his heart gave out and his mind slipped with it, blacking out before his mind could’ve been destroyed.

The next time that he awoke, tears were streaming down his face. He quickly wiped them away before anyone could see his pathetic state. He then quickly looked around afraid of finding Akashi and when he didn’t see him he was almost disappointed.

Almost.

 The man that had been here had tortured him; it wasn’t the Akashi he knew. He slowly got up but winced as he noticed that his wounds had only gotten worse with the flesh around them turned into sick shades of green and purple. He didn’t even know what his natural skin color was anymore with all the bruises, cuts, and grim adorning his body. He tried to lift his head up but almost fell over with the effort. His mind was spinning and it wasn’t just the lack of water. He was in so much pain after whatever Akashi had put him through.

 He almost blacked out again with the effort of movement when the heavy metal door suddenly opened.

A slender man dressed in all white came through the door.

Ah, him again.

He was the only one he had seen in this whole country that ever wore white. He doesn’t remember anyone wearing white in the Red Kingdom even before everything had gone to hell and Masaomi made the whole kingdom a military occupied territory.

He gently placed food onto the floor along with a glass of water, then stood back. His baby blue eyes that matched his hair stared at him, almost through him. He knew this was one of the children they had experimented on.

 _Just like Akashi_ , he thought.

A new feeling of guilt ran through his system before he could stop himself. He immediately attempted to squashed the feeling however. He had to get over the fact that Akashi was here, that he had seen him. That was not the Akashi he knew. He had changed, maybe he had even forgotten all about Nijimura.

But he had said he missed him.

Nijimura took a deep breath. He couldn’t let this get to him now. He had a mission to complete; he couldn’t spill any of the info he had. He looked up, the blue haired man seemed slightly perked now, staring at him on the precipice fascination and boredom.

Nijimura moved over to the food trying to not look up at the nameless man and trying not to think too hard about him. Nijimura had read his file before; it was one of the few files he had time to actually look at before causing a time delay and putting him late in handing off the information to Kagami which almost got them both caught and in risk of getting into prison.  

He had been here for days, weeks, maybe even over a month. He had no idea. There was no way to know what time it was in a lead cell but this kid had been here several times. His visits never seemed consistent, more of whenever he had time away from his other duties he would come to the cell to feed Nijimura, watch him eat, sometimes asked him a few questions to gage how he was emotionally doing, and then left.

The boy was an empath. He could feel and read emotions. When his torture first started Nijimura used to move quickly causing his wounds to scream out in pain, but also causing the empath pain as well as he read him. It had seemed an act of rebellion, one that he found humour in.

 Nijimura could withstand lots of pain. When he moved to the Black Kingdom he had made a name for himself as a thug before becoming a spy. However, the blue haired boy hardly looked even irritated at his attempts. He knew he was feeling the pain, but it seemed that the boy had endured far more than Nijimura had thought.

Nijimura thought about the blistering pain that he felt from Akashi’s mental force and thought it was hundreds of times worse than anything they had physically done to him. Nothing had him prepared for his mind to be attacked. He had wondered if the blue haired boy had ever endured such pain. Probably not, he wasn’t the enemy.

The boy seemed to be watching him very closely today, looking at every single moment he could. He was definitely trying to figure something out. He didn’t ask any questions however and left before Nijimura could voice any of his own. He probably just wanted to know how he was after being so brutally attacked by his previous master-

 No no no, he was the enemy prince. He had to keep thinking about him that way. Akashi was no longer his master but the enemy prince. Nijimura’s master was the Royal family of the Black Kingdom.

That’s right, he erased all of his connections with the Red Royal family. There was nothing for him here and Akashi had no power over him. Not the same power he used to have anyways.

Nijimura sat there in silence until the boy left, awaiting the usual thugs to beat him up for today. They came but they didn’t hurt him nearly as much. They asked him to tell him what he knew that he refused, just like every other time. However, today they quit early. They usually didn’t give up that easily.

Not too long later, Akashi walked in again. Nijimura’s heart skipped just a little as he looked up to see, his, no _not_ his, _the_ Red Prince again.

_I see you are not dead. Pity you fainted before any permanent damage could occur._

It was suddenly a lot easier to see Akashi as the enemy now.

_Oh? That is good; I would hate for you to try to shrug off the pain without feeling the hate burning within you._

Nijimura clenched his jaw and prepared for what was to come. Today the pain crept up on him slowly, a slow burning sensation that made him uncomfortable, but not much more than that. They stayed like this for hours, Akashi occasionally asking him to give up the information he had but it was going to take a lot more than that to dislodge his loyalties.

Akashi left after what felt like forever. Though even after he had left, Nijimura felt uncomfortable in his own skin with the slight stinging feeling.

The next time he was with Akashi, the pain went from intense to a slow burning, repeating again and again like a cycle.

In order to keep his focus he had to think about how Akashi was the son of Masaomi, the Red King who wouldn’t let anyone leave, a tyrant who also wouldn’t take care of his subjects. His mother had grown desperate and had taken them secretly across the border into a slum resulting in spending all of their family’s wealth in order to help their father which by then had been too late. The money they had scraped together was hard-earned, from their mother selling all of their belonging to his siblings taking illegal jobs just to pay for food, to him joining a gang and attempting to rob the rich until he was caught. The treatment had come too late and his father had died because of the Red King and Akashi didn’t do anything to help or stop his own crazed father. Akashi was to blame.

But was he really? He may have been smart and knew what was going on, but he too was just a kid.

When Akashi read this thought he forced a large amount of pain on Nijimura, making him black out immediately with the sudden shock.

The cycle went on for days until they eventually stopped abusing him physically. However Akashi still came in to abuse his mind, usually with varied intensities of pain. Nijimura learned from these experiences that Akashi could only read the thoughts he was currently thinking. Those glowing eyes could not penetrate any deeper into his mind, or maybe they didn’t want to. Either way Akashi only knew what he thought in the moment so he made sure never to think about anything of importance while Akashi was in the room.

Sometimes he just repeated a mantra of ‘ _Akashi means nothing to me. I am a loyal subject of the Black kingdom_ ’. And he really was. Ever since they picked him up back when he was a kid in a gang and showed them how much they could help a citizen like him, he had grown very fond of the Kingdom and meant every vow he ever took in the name of their king.

There were several times where Akashi tried to play mind games with him to get him to think about the information he was looking for but Nijimura carefully avoided it. There were only small hiccups such as the first syllable of a name before he caught himself. He had been sleep, food and drink deprived for far too long. They only allowed him as much as would keep him alive. Sometimes they would forget about him and he had no choice but to sleep away those days or be burning with hunger and thirst.

No matter how many times Akashi came in with that cold gaze Nijimura couldn’t stop wanting Akashi to appear before him. Sometimes he got this curious glint in his eyes that reminded him of when they were children. The pain he felt with Akashi wasn’t his own; it was just meaningless pain that Akashi was giving him as a part of his job. Nijimura couldn’t stop from trying to validate Akashi to himself. In the end he decided that this wasn’t his Akashi.

 But if he ever caught sight of his Akashi, then what would he do?

Would he truly be able to keep his mouth closed? Or would he spill everything because he could never truly hide anything from the prince? He didn’t want to, because he never wanted Akashi to hide anything from him and hypocrisy never helped.

These thoughts circled through his mind throughout the days and in his confusion, he couldn’t answer the simplest of questions.

In the end, who was his master?

He sighed. Nijimura then started to mentally prepare himself for Akashi to return.

 It would soon come crashing down on him.

Akashi came in as usual all dressed up but today he brought in the blue haired empath as well. Nijimura flinched. What was Akashi going to do with the empath around?

“Kuroko, what does he feel when he looks at me?” Akashi asked, facing Kuroko as the door closed. His voice was smooth and emotionless.

“Confusion, my lord.” Kuroko stated turning back towards Akashi who hadn’t ever turned away from looking at Kuroko.

“Hah, why do you need this blue bimbo to tell you that, huh Akashi? Can’t you just read my mind?” Nijimura sneered, not liking the fact that Akashi was ignoring him and looking at Kuroko with something almost soft in his eyes.

Akashi immediately turned towards him, eyes blazing. Nijimura felt his body flare with pain and he almost let out a scream at the sudden intensity of it. Kuroko let out a harsh wince.

Placing a hand on his shoulder to stop Akashi, Kuroko explained,” Akashi can read thoughts and words, not emotions or feelings.”

In other words, his telepathy was incomplete which shocked Nijimura a little. How could it be that the perfect prince held an imperfect power? He knew Akashi was hearing all of this as he watched his eyes narrow, stone face frowning slightly.

“What does he feel if I tell him something personal?”

Nijimura’s hope flared suddenly. Akashi never revealed much of himself to anyone.

“What if I told him that you and I, Kuroko, are engaged?”

And suddenly any hope that Nijimura ever had went out like a flame in the wind. His face fell and his stomach dropped so fast he thought he might puke. He eyes went wide; he was overcome by emotions, but by which one he didn’t know. He stared at Akashi’s cold face, not even able to form a proper thought for him to read.

It wasn’t until Kuroko put his hands on Akashi with a hard grimace on his face that Akashi stopped staring at Nijimura. He put his arms around Kuroko and looked with deep concern at Kuroko. Nijimura saw this and all his emotion violently turned onto Kuroko, jealously and anger blossoming in his heart, pushing out like weeds from the concreate. Akashi had broken his promise! Kuroko’s knees wobbled under the intensity of his emotions.

“H-He’s, uh, je-jealous and angry. De-deeply a-angry.” Kuroko stuttered out. Akashi immediately led him out of the room. Nijimura figured the door must have a dampening effect because seconds later he was back.

Nijimura was sure he was going to be deeply punished by hurting the crown prince’s mate but at that point he didn’t care. He felt numb to pain; it was just pure anger rushing through his veins.

Akashi looked at him with determination in his eyes, but they didn’t seem as hard and the gold one seemed to almost flicker.

 “I never broke that promise, and I never will.” Akashi whispered.

Before Nijimura could say anything, he was gone back out through the door.

Nijimura sat there stunned, not noticing the tears that rolled down his face. After those last words the only thing he felt was numbness. He didn’t think that he was feeling anything. It was all so confusing and everything conflicted within himself.

What did he mean he never broke that promise? He was with Kuroko, right? The boy in white-

 Ah, white. Now that he thought back on it, there was one person he remembered wearing white years ago. He had only ever seen her in pictures as she had died before she could ever meet him but Nijimura knew she was the last queen, Akashi’s mother. She had been the last one to wear white, the status of mate to the King. Nijimura really should have seen it coming but now even though he wanted to feel angry at himself, he couldn’t. His emotions were just too jumbled, and he couldn’t think straight; he was exhausted enough. Yeah, he’d sleep. That may help. Maybe this is all a bad dream and he would wake up the next morning laughing at his crazy mind.

He closed his eyes and fell asleep.

There he was happily sitting in the gardens that he had grown to love as a kid. He wasn’t a kid anymore though. He had grown up since then. He breathed in the sweet scent of the roses as they began to wither. Fall was coming and the cold had already started to affect the plants. He didn’t mind though because there was something beautiful in the garden all year round.

 He looked just beyond the roses and the sun began to set, but he wasn’t looking at the sun. There was a man mindlessly walking through the garden, his hair almost the same shade as the bright red that was spread across the gentle sky. He had picked up a rose, one that had been genetically altered to be a baby blue. Those were always one of his favorites because they only grew inside of the castle gardens. Nijimura used to like those flowers just as much but something inside him told him not to enjoy them, but to resent their genetically altered color.

He completely forgot this train of thought however, as Akashi turned around towards him. His crimson eyes were soft with ease and affection. It was rare to see Akashi have anything but his forced professional smile or his serious stony face. Nijimura basked in the warmth of it all and quickly walked towards Akashi. He must have had some military meetings today because part of his hair was slicked back, while the other half had fallen over his left eye.

 There was something about that eye that had unnerved him but he didn’t have any time to dwell on it as Akashi took Nijimura’s hand and squeezed it, trying to convey the feelings that he had never knew how to bear, never knew how to express them. Nijimura smiled knowingly and brought Akashi into a hug. Akashi hesitated but allowed it anyway. Nijimura closed his eyes and breathed deeply before the smell of blood and sweat jarred him awake-

He woke up with a start, looking down at himself. He was a bloody mess. Being in the garden with Akashi was just a vision, a dream. If that was a dream it meant that what had happened before had had been real. He felt himself go numb all over again. It took him several moments to notice that Kuroko was in the room waiting for him to eat his food.

Nijimura sat up gradually, not wanting to move too quickly. He saw the white of Kuroko and he felt defeated, but too numb to feel anything beyond. Why should he though? He was here for the Black Kingdom and his loyalties lay with their prince. He shouldn’t care about the Red Prince; if anything he should despise the b-bastar-

He felt hopeless, he couldn’t even finish the word in his own mind.

He just picked up his spoon and started to mindlessly eat, not really knowing or caring what was going to happen but just wanted it all over with.

Kuroko just watched him until eventually Nijimura looked up. Usually his face was just as empty as Akashi’s but today his expression was puzzled.

“What?” Nijimura asked, his voice hoarse against his scratchy throat, “Why are you looking at me like that? I’ve looked like crap from the day I’ve been here.”

“What did you do to Akashi? He’s in pain; it’s been a while since I’ve sensed it without touching him.” Kuroko stated, suddenly sitting up with a hard determination.

“Me? He’s the one dishing out all of the pain onto others. Like he even knows what pain is, pfft.” Nijimura stated. Usually a lot more sass would have accompanied it, but his heart wasn’t in it today.

“Yes, you. Akashi is always feeling pain, otherwise he would have none to give to others. But you caused him to actually lower his mental shields enough that I could feel it, or enough pain to spill over them.” Kuroko stared at him, his face as blank as it always was but his eyes showed the smallest amount of anger at the surface.

Nijimura just started wide-eyed in disbelief. He didn’t understand what was going on but if what Kuroko said was true…

“Didn’t you know? Akashi can only give the pain he himself feels.” Kuroko stated, slightly agitated at Nijimura’s staring, “The pain you feel are his mind’s shields lowering.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ey, finally got a Beta, thank you so much for your work Sadcrabby!


	3. I know this great place down the block, you should try it too!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akashi has some internal conflict.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This betaed version has about 300 words added from the original.

Akashi sat down on the rough oak chair decorated with thin curls of gold. One might call it a throne but that implied that whoever it belonged to ruled something. Akashi didn’t rule anything it was all his father’s kingdom. He used to have more duties around the castle that pertained to the citizens of the country. However when he had tried to bring back policies that his mother had created, his father shot him down immediately, telling him he didn’t know anything about running a country or what the people needed and forced him out of the court in disgrace.

_“I know more about the people then you and your corrupt nobles do, Father.”_

 After that he had been sent to the Laboratories, used as a human experiment.

At first the people hadn’t known their prince was being sent there too but even when it eventually got out, no one was really surprised by Masaomi’s actions.

 Disgusted, yes, but not surprised.

 If anything, they were more compliant when they realized there was nothing to stop him, not even the last thing his wife left him, their son, was safe from his madness. Many other families had to give up their children, at least one from each, and some families had to send more in order to get enough compensation from the government to feed themselves. It was so common sending kids off that it was like sending them to school ‘Have fun dear! Don’t die from excruciating pain today!’

Forty percent of them did, anyway.

To be fair, however, the Laboratories where the only place to get a decent education in the Red Kingdom.

He released an internal sigh. Thinking about things that were not going to change wasn’t going to help. He had to find a way to remove his Father from power, this much he knew. There was no one left to keep Masaomi sane, but it was hard considering the government was all against it, enjoying their good life at other’s expenses.

Tetsuya walked into the hall, or maybe he had been there for a while; he just ghosted through the halls.

That was their original experiment on him, to create a living ghost. With his older sister dying from the experiments days into his own they decided to switch tactics, not knowing if his genes were compatible with what they wanted. The gold in Akashi told him that they would have been successful with Tetsuya but it was too late for that to happen. He could only try if he were to be ‘re-educated’. The process involved going back to the labs after one had graduated. Some wanted more money to give to their families as it was the highest paying jobs outside of the scientists themselves. Some wanted more power but most were law breakers, criminals. The survival rate for being re-educated dropped from sixty to five percent and even then, life expectancy wasn’t long. The experiments were just too stressful on the body.

Akashi stood and silently went down to Tetsuya who never wanted to be anywhere near those thrones. Out of everyone he knew, Tetsuya had the least amount of loyalty for the Red King. He was constantly trying to get the other strong Lab graduates to fight him, to change the way the kingdom worked. Akashi was drawn to his rebellious determination.

Masaomi would have Tetsuya killed the moment he knew but luckily Akashi was always around to cover him, and anything that had to do with Akashi, Masaomi promptly ignored. Akashi had been protecting Tetsuya ever since they met in the Labs. He couldn’t remember anything before a meeting in front of his father one day and then not long after being sent to the Labs, but even that was blurred. Beforehand, he was nothing. The original Akashi had created him then he had shut himself away, present and seeing, but not making any move to take back his body. Akashi had stared to call him Seijuro in his head, but he rarely ever tried to contact the new Akashi. He was more of a headache in the back of his mind with all the pain _he_ felt.

He wanted to make the pain stop so he shut out his own feelings so he would nothing to add. He tried to invoke change in order to calm him. He didn’t know where the source of the pain was but he tried to do everything he could to stop it because he didn’t know why else he had been created.

He was so lost not knowing his own story, never whole.

What was real?

Pain was real and with the Seijuro in his head, he had plenty of it. So he dished it out on anyone stupid enough to cross him. It relieved the headache he constantly felt and in those moments he felt such calming pleasure.

 Power was real too.

He could do more with power; he could create and destroy with power and finally solve the Seijuro’s pain. He tried to read other people so that he might have a chance to understand himself and he tried to be absolute because he needed to succeed. He needed others to be better; _he_ needed to be better so that he could validate himself to him, his other self.

He started walking down the grand entrance with Tetsuya who always had such a calming presence and never exerted any pressure. So ghost like indeed.

Akashi had become numb to the fiery pain, both internal and external, but something with Shuzo showing up caused the pain to become fresh, _raw_.

“What’s wrong, Akashi-kun?” Tetsuya asked while they were walking through the halls of the castle.

“Well, Tetsuya it’s-“

 **Don’t tell him** , Seijuro hissed.

 “Nothing, it’s just a headache.”

The other Akashi also seemed much more talkative with Shuzo’s arrival as well, he noticed.

Kuroko now looked at him with some sadness “Why do you always lie when it comes to how you feel? I feel like sometimes I would never know if I wasn’t an empath.”

_Seijuro? He’s right how come we don’t tell him how we feel?_

**I promised** , that was all he said, with no explanation.

He never responded when he tried pushing further. That’s all he would ever say to that question. He promised. What promise? He had no recollection of this promise. For him, it was frustrating only living half a life. Of course, no one knew this, not even Tetsuya. He had met him after being born from the original. He thought the pain had been from the experiments, but it was there long before.

“A prince can’t appear weak.” Akashi finally replied, an excuse that the original Akashi gave him long ago.

Tetsuya’s eyes softened slightly. Akashi assumed that Kuroko thought he understood, thinking it had something to do with the Lab. Heh, little did Kuroko know. Little did Akashi know.

They walked further along, both in their own thoughts.

“How come you never told me you knew Shuzo?” Tetsuya asked after a moment of silence.

 _Yes, Seijuro why didn’t you tell me?_ He asked to his other self.

**It was irrelevant.**

_It became very relevant when we heard he had been captured._

Akashi could remember the screaming at hearing his name. At this, the original Seijuro appeared before him, his face in pain and agony at the mention of him.

“I had forgotten him.” It was the truth.

‘Yet he seems so intrigued by you?” Tetsuya asked, his eyes watching Akashi carefully.

“I am the prince.” Akashi tried to joke.

That’s not what I meant Akashi-kun,” Tetsuya deadpanned, “He knows you but he says he’s never been to the Red Kingdom before. How could that be?”

Akashi narrowed his eyes. He too had wondered about that. “He is not giving up any information willingly. We will have to try changing strategies.

“First, how about we relieve some of that pain Akashi-kun?” Tetsuya suggested, “I know you have been bottling it up.”

 He shivered. Tetsuya was always willing to do anything for him; he had even agreed to marry him in hopes of changing the future. There was definitely more there, though.

He always wanted to have Tetsuya; to possess him, he was _his_. He wanted to do whatever he pleased with him and his body at times, _anything_ to ease the stinging of his own mind. Tetsuya was like his water, quenching him after he felt so dry and thirsty for anything. He put his hand on his cheek, thinking that today he might just-

**Don’t.**

His whole body immediately stilled. His other self never allowed him any solace in anyone. At times, he thought that he might as well disobey him and do it anyways.

But it would only cause him greater pain. Who knows? Maybe he would disappear forever, along with half of his life and his memories.

He pulled back from Tetsuya.

“I have been relieving plenty of it on Shuzo, Tetsuya. I am fine.”

Tetsuya seemed slightly disappointed but not surprised. He quickly replaced it with his stoic face however.

“With how much pain you give him it’s a wonder he hasn’t gone crazy yet.” He joked instead.

“Who knows, maybe he has. Maybe he is so broken his mind split into two and the half that actually knows things is buried deep in his mind while the other half endures the pain in confusion.” Akashi replied, watching Tetsuya with intensity.

“Hah, what an oddly specific and strange thing to say. I don’t think that could ever happen.” Tetsuya laughed slightly.

 Akashi was almost tempted to tell him that it _could_ happen and that it did, to himself.

 He held back. The last thing he needed was to be seen as crazy which would give his Father another reason to reduce his already crumbling power.

“If your powers are not working on him though, you’re right in switching up strategies.” Kuroko said.

“I can’t think of anything else to try. He had weeks of various types of torment before me but even then he didn’t respond to any of it. He is just too loyal.”

There was a sudden pang of emotion in Akashi’s heart. He couldn’t tell if it was good or bad but that statement meant something to his other self.

“Oh, really?” Tetsuya glanced at him, “The Labs are always looking for a new lab rat. I’m sure they would love someone new.”

There was something in him that screamed _no_ , but he didn’t know why. He couldn’t remember a reason. He tried asking the other Akashi but whenever he said Shuzo’s name or saw his face, the only thing he got back was pain. The words drowned in his turmoil, nothing could be heard.

If anything, all he felt was pain so why did he dread sending him to the Labs so much?

“I’m sure they would indeed.” He finally replied, “They may just be able to break him down to the point that he’ll be willing to talk.”

They moved their way down the halls, back and down into an old, almost forgotten, part of the castle, the third floor- east wing. Akashi threw open the doors and inside were a colorful group. Akashi may have had much of his political power stripped away from him but he still had his military power. He had even formed his own special squadron from the children who had survived the labs.

It was a fact that only one child from each family was sent off to the labs. That is thirty percent of the population and even then only sixty percent of the thirty survived. On top of that only a small ten percent of the population had a power deemed useful by the scientists and government. All in all, it was narrowed down to only one point eight who were deemed to be of value.

The best of them sitting in this room right now.

They were all over the room like a pack of wild dogs. Daiki and Ryouta were running around the room screaming at each other. Akashi wasn’t sure what was happening. From the looks of things, it didn’t seem serious since Ryouta was smiling.

Ryouta had survived the labs twice. After getting out the first time with his ability to copy anyone’s powers perfectly, he had been caught by border patrol sneaking out his other siblings so that they wouldn’t have to go to the labs. He very easily could have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for the fact that Daiki had been the one to catch him. Daiki had no loyalties except to Tetsuya, and he did whatever he wanted with very little restraint. It was only through his inability to think critically that allowed Akashi to control him enough to be of use.

Daiki had caught Ryouta with his overwhelming power of speed and would have let him go if it wasn’t for the fact that a whole squadron of men were with him and the last thing he wanted was to be reported and sent back to the Labs himself. Ryouta had eventually understood this but for a long time had despised Daiki for the choice. Ryouta now used his rivalry with Daiki as a competition to see who was stronger. He didn’t use his second power however, creating a bit of mystery no one wanted to pry into.

No one really understood how Ryouta could be as happy as he could but he did spend quite a bit of time crying and was always with Tetsuya who said he had a strong mind that really helped him bounce back. Tetsuya was everyone’s therapist in this group. He knew everyone’s secrets.  He was calming and always comforting to be around with. Tetsuya expected nothing from anyone and never blamed them for their faults. He was the bond that kept them all from shattering.

Daiki had known Tetsuya the longest and was the most protective of him. He always tried to protect the shorter. The two had grown up with each other and were extremely close even before the Labs. If Akashi was a lesser man he might’ve been jealous but he knew it would be unbecoming of an Akashi. Apparently not unbecoming for Aomine, as the other would always give him the stink eye and hold onto his Tetsu for as long as he could. It always had made Tetsuya smile at his child-like nature.

Satsuki ran over and immediately hugged Tetsuya. It was no secret she liked Tetsuya. However, she never made a move on him after Akashi’s proposal but she would still hug and jump on him, and before that Aomine had always kept her at bay. Satsuki was the weakest physically in the room but her power was strong. She had the gift of a perfect memory and the ability to share those memories in startling detail with others. She was able to review anything she saw and detect any new details she may have not noticed before. Her parents had both been Lab graduates from before the Labs were fully implimented, both law breakers from before Akashi’s mother’s death. They had been experimented on in secret before she was born. Satsuki didn’t even have to be experimented on to graduate from the Lab; she was mostly just studied interacting with others for years.

Akashi then turned to see Shintarou getting up from his mat where he must have been consulting with his powers. He had the ability to see the future, in a different sense. He could tell if the day would have a negative or positive outcome but not the events exactly. He could use this power whenever he wanted with whoever he wanted if he had their face in mind. He also knew what items would help accomplish the best possible outcome for the day. He used this often in his schooling, even receiving an offer to become one of the scientists with his high susses rate in everything he did. He had quickly declined.

Atsushi just stayed seated on the couch and shared a nod with Akashi. He had extreme strength and was Akashi’s most loyal follower. He would do anything without question, or hesitation, whenever Akashi would command him.

Akashi cleared his throat, gaining the attention of the whole room before starting their tactical strategy discussions. They had created their plans to remove rebel bases while allowing the rebels to live as well as anyone they deemed as someone who was just trying to find a way out. However anyone else, any _radicals_ , they would have to be sent to the Labs. There really were no other options under Masaomi’s rule. They could only make themselves feel better thinking that they were saving all the innocents they could.

Akashi’s team oversaw keeping down rebellions inside of the Kingdom officially and dealing with spies that were caught inside the kingdom. They would act to keep innocents protected and provide any aid they could to the people, only taking in those that would cause further violence in an attempt to keep down casualties. They made sure that they would only turn up enough results that Masaomi would not turn his eye on them. The last thing Akashi needed was to corrupt politics which would, otherwise, mess with his efforts.

“Lastly,” Akashi started, “I’m conducting a prisoner transport.”

“Personally?” Shintarou asked.

“Yes, I want Daiki and Satsuki with me.” Akashi answered.

Kuroko raised his eyebrow. Akashi noticed this and suspected that he was going to hear about it later. For the moment however, he only looked curious.

“You two, meet me in the morning in front of cell thirteen.” He dismissed them.

Akashi and Kuroko then left the room together.  It was starting to get late and they both needed rest.

“Why didn’t you want me there?” Tetsuya asked when they were out of ear shot.

“I did not want to cause you pain by feeling his own as we try to move him. Or even mine if he needs to be disciplined. I can shield the other two but your empathic abilities would still sense it if you were close by.” Akashi explained.

It was true but he was also worried about Seijuro doing something, something that Tetsuya might feel.

Tetsuya was fine with that explanation but he still looked at his fiancé’s face with concern. He went to grab Akashi’s hand before he realized that he wasn’t gloved, his powers were magnified by touch and if he had held his hand Tetsuya would have felt the full force of Seijuro’s pain. He quickly did so and they held hands all the way back to Akashi’s room. They slept in the same room and even the same bed, but that was all they ever did, never anything more. The farthest they had ever gone were kisses for public events. He was hoping as soon as they got married the other Akashi would allow him to do more with Tetsuya. The sweet blue haired boy deserved more than the constant evasion of physical and mental contact. Together, they could understand each other so completely and yet he was being held back. Akashi fell into a calming sleep as he always did when he slept next to Tetsuya, his calm nature.

The next morning, they came and dragged Shuzo out of the cell. Akashi could read his confused internal state of mind, constantly questioning, he seemed more out of it today. Akashi didn’t pay much mind to this until a sharp stinging headache crawled up the back of his mind. He ignored it, instead focusing on getting Nijimura up.

Satsuki gasped as she walked in, “Oh my goodness! He’s a mess! How has he been able to survive this long?” She immediately ran over to him to help pick Nijimura up, “We should at least clean him up before we transfer him.”

“The Lab will clean him up.” Akashi responded.

Her eyes widened marginally, then Daiki shouted, “The Lab?!”

Akashi just nodded. They all knew what that meant, what it could mean. No one could really wish the Lab on another person, especially one that looked so frail he realized. Something grew colder inside of him, the pain turning bitter and disgusted. Towards what, he did not know.

“Then we should be the ones to do it, it’s the least we can do considering where he is going.” Satsuki reasoned.

Akashi nodded allowing this small mercy but only because he was confused with himself.

Daiki easily picked him up. Shuzo didn’t even fight back, he seemed to be on the edge of consciousness.

They moved him to another room and Satsuki started getting out bandages. Akashi went to stand in the back of the room in order to watch the ordeal.

Then Shuzo’s unfocused eyes spotted him, his body leaping out toward him. Daiki however was much quicker and got in his way, effortlessly holding him back. Akashi could hear Daiki’s thoughts and knew he was worried about Akashi’s wellbeing, thinking that Shuzo was going hurt Akashi, though he couldn’t read any violent thoughts from Shuzo. His mind was a bubbling delirium.

Akashi placed his arm on Daiki’s shoulder to get him to stand down. As soon as Daiki moved away, Shuzo went to grab Akashi’s hand. At first he was shocked but he let him. There was something stirring deep within him, moving slowly. It felt like him, but also like someone else.

He had felt this before. Earlier the other Akashi had tried to take over; he had said that he didn’t break his promise and had exerted himself trying to say those simple words to the prisoner. He now came to the surface again but he made no move to take control. Inside, he just watched alongside him in his mind as they watched Nijimura in his delirium hold tightly to Akashi. His mind was reeling between thoughts about the Black Kingdom and thoughts of how he was conflicted by his masters’ appearance.

 _What does he mean by ‘his master’?,_ He briefly thought.

**That’s us, we are his master. I understand if this confuses you.**

_It does. I know nothing of this man; I have not met him until several months ago._

**Ah, yes, he was here before you were born. He worked for us, was a part of the staff. He lies when he says that he never lived in the Red Kingdom before** _,_ Was all that his other self said. 

Akashi could feel sadness from his original self and he wanted to ask more, but the other Akashi was already leaving and he was afraid of pushing him anymore.  This was the longest conversation they’ve had since he was born.

“Leave, I’ll finish.” Akashi commanded. The others looked nervous not sure what was going to happen but it was obvious that Akashi had the upper hand and was not in any danger.

After they left Akashi swallowed, not sure why he told them to leave. He fixed Shuzo with a hard look. The man looked more relaxed now that it was just the two of them which didn’t make any sense seeing as he was the one who tormented him, but then again, the man was delirious. It was probably from the lack of food and water. Tetsuya had refused to feed him after breakfast a day ago and he was already deprived as it was. Akashi got him a glass while he filled the bowl to clean the wounds. Shuzo drank it as fast as he could and looked slightly better afterwards. However, he still looked out of it.

Akashi made sure to let nothing slip, only ever giving him a cold hard stare that betrayed the curiosity or any feelings the other Akashi could project. He grabbed the bandages and gently cleaned the wounds, dressing them as he did so. He was hoping that, by being alone, Shuzo would feel more comfortable elaborating or spilling any information he had regarding anything.

“So, you still do care. I’m surprised.” Shuzo muttered his voice scratchy.

“Why?” Akashi said before he could stop himself, but he didn’t allow any of his expression to betray his mistake.

Shuzo gave a short laugh, a coughing fit followed shortly after, staining his wounds. Akashi handed him another cup of water. “Why you ask? Guess it has been forever and we’re not on the same side. I thought that was enough for you to want me dead but here I am alive, and you. You are bandaging me. At least I think it’s you.” He mumbled the last sentence, surprising Akashi.

 Could this man tell that he is a different Akashi? That he is not the original?

Akashi quickly finished the bandages and was about to stand up to open the door, but Nijimura grabbed onto his arm.

“You are there, right?” His eyes were unfocused and he looked ready to collapse. Anything coming from his mouth could just be from his delirium.

But reading his mind, Akashi found himself confronted with Shuzo almost begging Akashi to give him a sign, any sign that he, his Akashi, the original Akashi, was still there.

Nijimura brought him closer, pulling him by the arm. For the first time, the other Seijuro didn’t jerk away or protest, if anything, he seemed to be encouraging it. However, Akashi didn’t want to get any closer, he only wanted Tetsuya to touch him. Why could Akashi not allow him to touch the man who calmed him, but instead the man who caused him so much pain every time he was mentioned?

He quickly used his other hand to open the door behind him to let Satsuki and Daiki in. He was unsure what would happen if this was allowed to go on longer. As soon as the other two came into the room Shuzo dropped his arm and compliantly left with them out of the building.

Akashi proceeded to lead them to the Labs, where they handed Shuzo over to the scientists’ mercy before leaving back to the castle.

That evening Akashi had spent hours hugging Tetsuya not knowing why and at the same time, _knowing_. The original Akashi and Shuzo had something deep between them, something that allowed neither of them peace, and he could only pray that Tetsuya would stay with him when everything would be over.

Something in the back of his mind told him that he could not, and would not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God bless Sadcrabby, and you all should too.


	4. Trying something new, can’t wait to see the results!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nijimura makes a new friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This version has been updated with about 400 more words and cleaned up. Thank you all for your support! Also thanks to Sadcrabby for amazing betaing.

Nijimura woke up lying in a white room with bright, white lights above him. The usual sharp pain radiating from his nerves was just a dull roar now. He felt like he had woken up from a strange dream, one where Akashi wasn’t causing him as much pain, one where he seemed more reachable and not so distant from the one he knew as a child.

Nijimura slowly got up and felt that his body was covered in bandages as well as also wearing a plain white t-shirt and pants that were several sizes too large for him. He had been cleaned up and all the wounds had been sterilized. It seemed he had been super lucky and none of them were infected.

So, it wasn’t all a dream.

Everything felt blurry and fuzzy; he couldn’t remember what he said or what he did but he did remember holding Akashi’s arm and not feeling completely lost. He felt like the Akashi which had made that promise with him so many years ago was somewhere in there, watching him.

Then he remembered what Kuroko said a few days ago. Akashi could only share the pain that he himself had experienced. Had it been those experiments he had been forced to endure? Had they caused him that much pain? Had he kept that pain within himself the whole time? How could it be so raw still, so strong even though it was years ago? Nijimura didn’t have answers to any of these questions but he pondered them and wished he could have helped Akashi, to say that they were on the same side.

They were not on the same side though and Akashi had someone else to talk to. Anger began to boil as he thought of what those scientists had caused Akashi to endure, had changed him so much, becoming something sinister. He was never truly innocent or naive with his intelligence, but he used to kind and more graceful.

But knowing Akashi was in that much pain didn’t make him feel any better, it frustrated him. He wanted to change it; he wanted Akashi to rely on him, not Kuroko. He wanted to be the only one close enough to Akashi to be able to hold him, or be held by him-

This was not the time to think about what he wanted. He had to think about what the Black Prince wanted and his mission. He had to keep his mouth, and mind now, closed and get out of here before they could find a way to break him. He was honestly scared he would spill all the information he had while held in his half delirium when Akashi was there. Honestly, if Akashi had tried to pry information from him with that pain, his own pain, onto Nijimura then, he would have broken down right there in hopes of bringing anything good into Akashi’s life, to help him in any way he could.

Now, he could think clearly. He wasn’t in his delirium anymore. He had to keep his secrets.

He slowly looked around the room which wasn’t much to write home about. It was a white room with white walls and a white floor. In addition to that, the ceiling was covered in blinding lights, making it almost impossible to look up. There was also a long large mirror. If Nijimura had to guess, it was a way for him to be monitored without knowing when. The room had a single bed which took up most of the space and a bucket in the corner.

It was definitely a real five-star establishment.

Nijimura started looking for a door but quickly found that he could not see one. That was until he closely examined the walls that he noticed there was a hairline crack that followed the shape of one. He tried pushing against it to no avail. Not knowing what else to do he decided to sit down and plan an escape route. The first thing he would do was to use the little knowledge they had about Nijimura against them. He had to leave immediately before they could do anything to him, before they could make him weak enough to be unable to fight back. That would be his first plan.

The doors opened to show a tall scientist with glasses that seemed to shield his eyes from being seen. Nijimura didn’t pay him any more attention than that as he slammed his body against the man, pushing him over. From there, he just kept going, pushing through the maze of the place.

He turned and turned. Everything was a blur of white pristine hallways. He pushed past scientists and the lab rats alike, running, running, running. He ran as fast as he could, as far as the building allowed him. He was almost at the door until he was tackled from the side and a needle was quickly injected before he had the chance to wriggle free.

He woke up the next morning feeling groggy. He had a head splitting headache to accompany it as well but it soon faded when he ate his breakfast previously pushed through the slot in the wall. There must have been something placed in the food to ease the original drug that caused him to pass out, he felt rejuvenated immediately. He sat around for a few more minutes, thinking.

Just running away hadn’t worked yesterday and Nijimura wasn’t ready to think of another escape plan while all he knew about this place was this room. Where would he go after he got out anyway? Maybe he would try and find Akashi…

No.

He wouldn’t, couldn’t and _shouldn’t._ He needed to return to the Black Kingdom, to give his report and the information he had collected. He needed to get to his country and to finish his job.

His country…

Before Nijimura could really confuse himself anymore the door opened and instead of a scientist waiting for him, they had posted an escort instead.

A tall dark man with deep blue hair and eyes was waiting this time when the door opened. He was dressed in a black military uniform similar to the one Akashi wore, so he was probably well trained, not someone to underestimate. He immediately took Nijimura by the hand, leading him into another white room. He seemed just as uncomfortable with the place as Nijimura felt and he wondered if he could lose this guy. He shook his head, it was probably best to find an escape route before trying to run away again. He didn’t bother to look where he was going the first time and they would be ready if he tried again. He had lost the element of surprise, afterall.

When he was brought into the next room, the other man shoved him down onto a table and immediately started to tie him down to it. As he placed on the straps, he glared at Nijimura with something that might’ve been pity; though it was marred by something still hostile and full of violence. That only made Nijimura want to fight him more but besides that, there was something about him that was throwing Nijimura off. It must’ve been the fact that he had also been the result of experimentation that his obvious discomfort suggested and until Nijimura knew his power, he wasn’t going to risk a fight against this guy, especially not after Akashi had bandaged him up.

“Where am I?” Nijimura asked, breaking the silence.

“The Labs. I can’t tell you much more about the location, of course, but you probably already know.” He now looked up to see Nijimura’s reaction.

The truth was, he didn’t really know. There were dozens of lab locations and he could only hope and think that it was near Akashi’s castle. Hope? He dismissed that thought. It was so that he could get his bearings together, more effectively, _not_ because of a certain red headed prince.

Nijimura gave a little laugh and nodded. Here, he was about to become a lab rat held captive by a load of sadists.  No wonder he thought he saw pity in such violent eyes before.

“So, I’m going to get the worst of the worst treatment here? This is all for information extraction, isn’t it?”

“They don’t know you’re a prisoner here. Akashi gave orders for no one to know about why or how you got here. The scientists will treat you just like everyone else here, not that it means much in a place like this though.” The royal blue haired man explained. As soon as he was finished he left before Nijimura could ask him anymore questions.

What did that mean? So they were not just trying to take information from him? Why?

The scientist came in soon after the military gurard left, all faces covered so that he couldn’t tell who was operating on him. At first, they just gave him a basic check-up, testing all his reflexes and abilities. It had been a tiring day but there was nothing too bad, except for the brief moments when they jabbed him with a cattle prod whenever he took too long to move from one activity to another or if he tried to refuse them. It was of lower intensity but it still hurt like hell.

He quickly fell asleep after the entire ordeal, uncertain about what was going to happen next. As long as the tall blue guy was around with his unknown powers, Nijimura wasn’t ready to try anything.

The next morning, he was greeted by the same man as yesterday.

“I get a special escort again today? Lucky me, so who is my mysterious captor? You look too strong to be a lowly guard.” Nijimura teased, trying to get him to give up some information.

The blue-nette just sneered. “The name is Aomine Daiki. I’m part of a highly advanced group of lab graduates that only answer to the prince, squadron 13. I’m only doing this on Akashi’s orders.” He replied. Aomine looked like he might’ve had more to say but he stopped himself before that could happen.

“Akashi?” Nijimura couldn’t help but let the name slip out. Akashi hadn’t told them to take information from Nijimura, and had sent one of his personal squad members to look after him.

The first few days weren’t too bad. They had gone over all of his previous wounds and had healed them all. There were a few scars and bruises but otherwise he was in the best condition he could be in. Their medical technology in the Lab was the most advanced that he had ever seen.

The next week was worse. They had started testing his extremes; each day was a different test that pushed him to his limit. One day he was kept underwater until he passed out in order to test his lung capacity. The very next day he was forced to hold up a crushing weight for the whole day, to test his strength. The next, they placed him naked in a room, changing the temperature to one extreme to the next in order to gage his adaptability. He had gotten so nauseated he threw up within hours and passed out at some point early in the afternoon.

 It went on and on.

Once they were done with the overarching external extremes, they moved on to the specific extremes. Luckily the mental pain tests he was exempted from due to Akashi’s earlier interrogations. Unfortunately, they had no way of knowing his internal organ’s capacities from any of the months of torture he had endured, or his physical pain capacity. Those, they had to test. They had injected a drug into him that stung at his organs and nerves, causing them to feel like hot slick lava slowly devouring him with no way out and no choice but to accept this pain. The scorching pain never grew numb however, it kept growing and layering, choosing something else to target each time, never staying in one place long enough to get used to.

He was taken each night screaming from the Labs to his room, too delirious at times to tell that the day’s experiment had ended, and in the morning brought reluctantly from the room as well. He could endure torture but he didn’t want to be permanently changed, completely, by it. He didn’t want to lose himself. Most days, however, he would pass out early only to wake up on the table they always strapped him to. Aomine was always watching him, lazily and with slight disgust. Though Nijimura felt that is was more for the actual place than it was for him. Sometimes Aomine would take him back to the room and other times he left him on the table arbitrarily.

After one morning waking up strapped to the table, he felt particularly empty, like he wasn’t himself anymore. He didn’t want to think about it, he didn’t want to think about anything.

“Talk to me. It’ll help keep my mind off the pain.” Nijimura spoke in a weary voice.

 After all his scheming to get out, he knew now that it was impossible with Aomine on him and with how weak he always felt. He just needed something to take his mind off of this god damned place.

“What do you want me to say?” Aomine snarled. He wasn’t the most pleasant man, but right now Nijimura didn’t care, he just needed _something_.

“Anything, damn it, anything!” Nijimura almost screamed but his voice wouldn’t allow it with all the strain from his earlier wailing through the experiments.

Aomine seemed to get the clue that this was really the only way to stave off insanity, and he seemed kind of bored and on edge being here as well, so he obliged with his request. Aomine sat there and spoke about his past, what life was like when he was a kid. He, Momoi and Kuroko had known each other since practically birth and had been best friends that entire time growing up in some kind of village slum. He spoke about how he and Kuroko had to go off to the labs where they met the other members of the special military group Akashi had created. He spoke the smallest amount about being within the Labs, mostly because he was uncomfortable with remembering it. It turned out that children had classes while living in the labs, that it was to help them cope and give them something to be competitive about because what else were they supposed to compete for? Who had experienced the most pain? He doubted it.

Nijimura spent the next weeks in a similar state. Because he didn’t take classes they had more time to experiment on him such as doing surgeries on his innards while he was still conscious in order to try and figure out what his body could withstand and what power they should try to bring out in him. They swapped out some organs that they thought might fail because of the strain on the body they were giving him. Apparently, this was a normal thing because he told Aomine the first time it happened he had said, ‘Huh? Get used to them, you’ll have multiple organ implants but don’t worry, they do it so often. Even then, the organs are all synthetically made for each subject so it almost never goes wrong’.

And that was supposed to be reassuring.

Weeks later after all the propping and prodding, the scientists seemed to agree on a certain power they wanted to bring out of him and started new experiments. He no longer was being opened to prepare him for the experiments; they opened him up to conduct them instead.

 He thought transplants were bad enough. Having DNA forcefully changed and manipulated within his organs to produce results they were not meant for was far worse. He felt violated and unlike himself, like it was someone else’s body. He wasn’t sure how much of his original self was left, it had stopped mattering if they replaced organs or not. In the beginning it felt like they were being sadistic and evil.

But now? It seemed merciful. Without the enhanced organs transplanted into him, he would’ve most likely died or be experiencing more agonising pain as his original organs gave out and exploded. He had been fortunate enough for his mind to be left alone, that it was still wholly his. Aomine explained that it wasn’t to be touched by orders from higher ups. If he tried to get anything else from Aomine he said it was to preserve his memory so that the intel he had wouldn’t have the chance to be corrupted. Aomine said it like he didn’t fully believe it either, but they both went along with it.

As time passed, the experiments fell into a daily routine instead of the random times they were before. Nijimura could feel his body changing but he wasn’t exactly sure what was happening to it or what it was changing into. It felt like it was happening to someone else, and that he himself was just getting all the scars and the burning sensation all over his flesh, which was his, entirely. They didn’t try to enhance his outer flesh; they probably couldn’t replicate it properly with all the damage it’s been through, because otherwise he was sure they would have.

Aomine had admitted his hesitant attitude towards the Labs and that he wanted to be anywhere else but here. However, he was under orders and since he was the fastest man alive, they were sure he could keep Nijimura in line or at least make sure he couldn’t escape. The two began talking to each other more and more, because neither of them had anyone they wanted to talk to in the facility. Aomine avoided the others and, by default, Nijimura was dragged alone so that he could keep his eye on him.

They often talked about anything besides this place but nothing personal and it often ended with them silently thinking about what they had endured and what they wish they had endured instead. They talked about their childhood, how they both grew up on the streets. They had a similar childhood, well after Nijimura had left, but he never mentioned he had been in the Red Kingdom before.

It had been forever since he had been there, at least several months, or so it felt. He never knew the time and didn’t ask since he hadn’t known it long before then. The experiments kept coming; they were relentless and never lightened up. Even on days that the scientists had said the experiments weren’t going to be painful, he was left feeling drained and empty. Everything left him sour and questioning his resolves of living, made him question everything, all the way back to deciding to help his family by taking care of some rich snobby ass-hat prince.

Everything just seemed to get worse and he felt as though his soul was dying inside of his shell of a body. It got to the point he didn’t even try to fight back against Aomine and the scientists with actions or words, instead going through the motions. He even asked that they leave him on the table so that he didn’t have to move around. He even lost the energy to keep himself from passing out.

He could barely move with all the pain; they hadn’t wanted him to be addicted to the pain reducing drugs so they only gave him the most minimum amount. He turned his head towards Aomine who had taken to being around him all the time.

“I feel like crap.” Nijimura commented.

“Most do, I’m actually surprised you even made it to today.” Aomine calmly commented while drinking from a water bottle, “Your heart gave out, I was sure that was the end.”

“How does anyone survive this?” he asked. Within the past week the two had been able to carry casual conversations.

Aomine gave a dry humourless laugh, “A good portion don’t and since you’re no longer a kid, no-one expects you to survive. Well, except…” He stopped himself.

“Except who?”

“Akashi.”

“Akashi? I didn’t even think that he would give me a thought with so much on his plate.”

“I only know this because Tetsu let it slip.”

“Ah, Kuroko,” Nijimura could feel his jealously and bitterness rising.

He looked over at Aomine who gave him a warning glance. Through there little chats he had learned how much Aomine came to care for the smaller boy and that making fun of the future queen of the kingdom was not a good idea, especially in front of his best friend. Aomine had threatened to make living here worse if he kept abusing Kuroko through speech. The only thing that stopped him from doing it then and there was the fact that Nijimura was already in enough pain that he was constantly on the verge of death. He had gotten short lectures on how Kuroko had survived the same amount of experiments as he had, therefore he should already have his respect for him.

Nijimura then started trying to eat the food that had been placed for him on the nightstand. They were never sure when he would be conscious so they set out food for him whenever they could.

“This is always cold and it tastes the same even when the color changes.” He stared at some kind of pudding that stood up on a plate. Sometimes they would add some actual meat, but it was mostly just this weird wobbly colloid.

“Yeah, the food here is specially engineered to give you energy and to make you feel healthy. Helps keep you alive.” Aomine explained. “That’s the goal here, to live, and keep living. Once you give that up, even for a moment, you’re dead.”

“How do you find the will to keep living?” Nijimura asked knowing his was slipping.

 Going back to the Black Kingdom to do more missions that might turn out just as bad as this one, or being tested on to see how the Red Kingdom’s experiments worked, made him feel like he didn’t have much to live for anymore. He would die with the little information he held in the depths of his mind which didn’t sound as bad as it once had. He would still be dying for his kingdom and all it stood for, he knew when he took the job it might come down to this.

“Tetsu,” Aomine replied, almost sounding star struck.

“Kuroko?”

Aomine gave a small laugh and looked off into the distance as if seeing another time. Nijimura could relate.

“Yeah, Kuroko. Tetsu is the most pure, innocent man I know. He’s always there and half the time you don’t know it. H-he, well, he always wanted to change the Red Kingdom, he wanted it to be better than it was and he saw how much pain it gave people. He cried even when itt had even killed Haizaki, who no one particularly liked, but Tetsu couldn’t hate anyone, not anyone who grew up here at least. He always wanted to fight the injustice while trying to make sure we were all safe. He couldn’t protect us physically, but he could protect us mentally.”

“Thinking about him making his dream become a reality was a worthwhile thing.  I wanted to be there and I wanted to protect him so that he had a chance at that. I didn’t want him to be alone; I wanted to protect him, just as he tried to protect me, always. That’s what kept me alive.”

Nijimura nodded. He could tell Aomine was very fond of Kuroko, and the more he heard him talk about the other, the more it warmed his heart to see such love he had for him.

  
“Then Akashi came into the picture and claimed that he could protect Tetsu just as well as I could, if not better!” Aomine may have said more but he had finally turned back towards Nijimura to see his face.

It was Nijimura’s turn to scowl now; if he couldn’t trash talk Kuroko, then Aomine couldn’t do so for Akashi. That too had been realized through their conversations.

But now that he said Akashi’s name, Nijimura felt himself relax but he still felt mentally tense. Akashi was still a controversy to himself, but he wasn’t going to allow Aomine to belittle him, especially because it was solely based on him marrying Kuroko. At the same time, Nijimura only disliked Kuroko for the same reason. That didn’t matter now though, he wanted Akashi and he wanted to be by his side.

However now, he had other loyalties. He didn’t belong there anymore, with him.

“I understand that you are conflicted about Akashi, you pout a ton when you think about him. You first seem so happy but then you get all somber. I know how that feels. I don’t how or why you think about him the way you do, but if it will help you live, to continue to live, throw away everything and believe that you can see him again. That you will and you must. It doesn’t matter what but if you convince yourself that you have to see him again, maybe, you might just survive.” Aomine got Nijimura off the table to take him back to his room.

Nijimura was surprised by Aomine’s words. He just nodded before he couldn’t keep up his strength any longer and fell asleep. He knew that he must have been slept instead of passing out because he dreamt of Akashi again.

When he woke up the next morning and was taken into the other room to be strapped to the table for another day of experiments, this time he thought of Akashi, being next to him, _him_ instead of Kuroko, of Akashi being able to hold him and of being the only one to see Akashi weak. Of him being dressed in white standing in front of crowds besides his cherry haired companion.

Before he knew it, the session was over. He didn’t feel as though it was as painful or as long. With his thoughts centred on Akashi, it seemed to make it easier to ignore the pain, to bare his body being torn apart and put back together. It gave him enough strength to try and survive, to try to walk to his room, to prove he wasn’t weak, that maybe he was worthy of Akashi.

He tried to keep himself conscious and get through the experiments; he tried to become his strong, spirited self again in order to present himself as worthy to his mental version of Akashi. He even started to sass Aomine a little, which at first had confused the other, thinking that maybe he finally broke, but realizing that he wasn’t crazy, had seemed relieved at his mental recovery. That, and the wounds inflicted by the Lab had finally fully healed. The Lab had made sure that they didn’t leave a bruise. Of course, there were several scars, but all in all, his skin was in decent condition considering to Aomine he had been tortured for about six months including Lab time.

Later he was told that he had finished the main experiments and that his powers should be manifesting at any point within the next few weeks. Nijimura still didn’t know what the powers were supposed to be and he always forgot to ask when the scientists were around, too tired and unfocused to ever really think about anything. He was almost finished with stage one, the surgery part of the experiment.

It only lasted a week, more or so, just to make sure everything was working fine before changing out a few organs for the last time, just as a safety precaution. Enough people had died during these experiments so when the bare minimum of people lived through them, the scientists would want to make sure they stayed that way, or that was what Nijimura speculated. The entire time though, he had been thinking about Akashi, taking Aomine’s advice. He was now ‘ready’ to start stage two, the manifestation stage.

He woke up that morning feeling more determined. Maybe later, when he could finally use his newfound powers, he could finally escape and go but…

Where was it he wanted to go again? Where was his real home?

As soon as he got up, the wall opened inside the room.  Instead of just Aomine, a green haired man stood there as well. He adjusted his glasses, he was also in a black uniform.

“I’ve been ordered to take you back to the castle. You are to complete stage two there.” He said and started walking away, “Aomine, make sure he is secured.”

“Sure thing, Midorima,” Aomine waved him off and gave an off smile to Nijimura, “Looks like you’re getting out early.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do work for comments and Kudos.


	5. Welcome Back to Wonderland

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akashi is confused. He hurt himself in the confusion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, it's posted!
> 
> So I have a permanent beta, Sadcrabby, who went back through ch.2-4 and edited it. In the edits about 800 words were added, for the most part it is the same, but if you want to back and re-read it that would cool, Sadcrabby has worked really hard at this and I think it is a lot more clear and understandable plus I added a bit more to the story line that writing the next chapter I found I didn't mention (I never re-read my works so I really don't notice how much it doesn't make sense). 
> 
> Thank you all for reading this and your infinite patience with me! especially those who read this a year ago and are still doing so!

It happened almost immediately after he knew the experiments started.

Guilt was gnawing on him slowly, but it wasn’t his own guilt.  Instead it was Seijuro’s guilt for not doing more to stop him. There were times where he even tried to get Nijimura taken out of the Labs but he was told that doing so at any point in the first stage would cause more damage than continuing the experiments. Therefore, as soon as stage one was over, he called for him to be moved. Shintarou was qualified enough to observe his stage two readings to make sure nothing went wrong as his powers manifested. Besides, being around a bunch of Lab graduates couldn’t hurt his ability to control his powers either. The Labs had reluctantly let him go but only because it was practically an order from their prince.

_Why are we doing this? He has not done anything to deserve our mercy!_

There was only silence from Seijuro’s end.

_Why do you not reply but then insist on such things?_

**_It is because you would not want to hear it. You want Kuroko after all._ **

_I do._

Kuroko believed it was a good idea to continue the interrogations before he even learned how to use his powers and became a threat. He was a threat, unknowing, but it did take a few weeks for them to manifest.

He had Shintarou and Daiki left immediately to pick him up, bringing him to the castle since there was nowhere else for him to go. The hope was that the Labs had broken him and that he would be willing to answer any questions they asked him, or at least think about them.

Everyone was certain it was going to work, especially at the start.

Everyone but Seijurou.

His other self had always believed that Nijimura would survive and that his hatred and need for revenge against Akashi ordering such a thing to happen to him would burn within and keep him alive.

But over time Daiki questioned it, especially towards the end. In his reports he stated that Nijimura was fine and didn’t seem broken at all. Akashi was surprised by this as was everyone else; it was surprising that he wasn’t muttering away his secrets in a crazed ramble. His fears gradually became more realistic. He was now starting to believe that the Seijuro was correct and that Nijimura was filled with hatred, hatred that wanted him dead. He’d have to be sure that they were not alone together in order to protect himself.

Akashi took a deep breath and entered an antechamber to the room where Daiki was currently guarding Nijimura. Also, present was Shintarou who was was conducting a short physical analysis in order to gauge his later progress. He didn’t trust the scientist’s diagnosis.

He looked over to his left to see Tetsuya standing there which automatically calmed his nerves. He almost made a reach for the other’s hand.

**_Don’t._ **

His hand stilled and reluctantly went back to his side.

_Why? That had been acceptable when we were in public._

**_You are not in public now. Not to mention we are going in front of Nijimura. I do not know how he will react._ **

Akashi badly wanted to hold Kuroko’s hand even more. He wanted the pain Nijimura felt to not be his; he wanted to cause it but without feeling the pain himself.

The large oak doors opened up and they walked in. Akashi’s eyes immediately fell onto Nijimura, who upon seeing him, stood up. At first Nijimura didn’t know what to say, his mouth opening and closing several times. Something seemed to be building up inside of him. At this point, Akashi feared a little for his life, feeling as if Nijimura’s hatred was about to come.

Then Nijimura blurted out something that Akashi never expected, something that warmed his heart instantly.

“Akashi, I missed you.” He stated almost breathlessly, his eyes lit with an emotion that Akashi did not know how to interpret.

His head spun slightly with the statement. Did he miss him because he wanted him dead? But his eyes told otherwise. Akashi had seen those eyes full of hate before, but those were not the eyes looking back at him. Nijimura moved forward and was about to be stopped by Shintarou until Akashi felt his arm raise in signal to stop Shintarou. He was hit with a wave of nausea as Seijuro took control of his arm with so much speed that Akashi couldn’t stop him.

Nijimura stumbled forward with strides stronger than what someone who had just come from the Labs should be able to manage. He stopped right in front of him and stared for a moment. The room seemed to be holding its breath, to see if he would attack Akashi or not. Akashi felt a piercing pain from his left eye, losing composure from the sudden pain. He winced and covered the pain with his hand; he knew that the other Akashi was trying to take control of his whole body.

Everyone in the room seemed a bit shocked at Akashi (losing composure in front of the enemy, perfect indeed). Then Nijimura placed one of his hands on his shoulder and the other on his hand, moving it aside to look into his eye.

Akashi was about to push him away. Anger burned within him; he had not felt so strongly since he was born.

 _How_ dare _he touch me!_

**_Let him_.**

 Seijuro’s command caught him off guard but he could never disobey himself.

 _Why?! This makes no sense, Seijuro. This man is your, our, greatest source of pain. The mere mention of him causes you to scream in agony_.

 ** _I know. But please… let him_**.

He had allowed it and Akashi froze. He debated to just turn around, close the door and walk away. Instead, he found that he could not move. Within his shock he hadn’t noticed, until now, that Seijuro had taken over more and was keeping him in place. The rest of the room was just as shocked.

“Akashi, I see you.” Nijimura whispered, his voice seeming to echo loudly in the deafening silence, hands still lingering on his body.

The words bore into Akashi. He saw him. He saw _him_. How? He did not know and it scared him.

He regained control of his body and slapped Nijimura’s hands off of him before nodding his head to Daiki and Shintarou. They quickly came over and pulled Nijimura back to the chair where they were previously examining him.

“I show weakness and you show kindness? And here I thought you would hurt me, your sworn enemy. Maybe the Labs did do a number on your mental health even though it was supposed to be left alone. Shintarou, please check his head too.” Akashi received a nod from Shintarou before leaving the room as quickly as he could.  

He then left to his office, not sure what else to do except work.

He sat in his chair for a long time, contemplating what to do next. It would take several days for Shintarou to finish up the test and a few more to analyze the results with the upmost critical eye. All in all it would be about a week. As he was sitting there, Kise and Aomine walked in together. He noticed that the two were always following each other.

Kise pouted at him, “Akashicchi, why is Nijimura here? What was the point of sending him to Labs?”

Aomine seemed to be holding his tongue, seeming interested.   

“We need to know what information he took.  He stole lots of our paper documents so there is no other record of some of the experiments that were documented in those files. We also need to know how much the Black Kingdom knows so we can be prepared for any counter attacks.” Akashi sighed.

“We understand that, but just why the Labs? It’s such an awful place!” 

“None of our techniques were working. He is very loyal.” At this, he felt a deep pang of emotion within himself.

The other two seemed to accept this answer but they still looked upset. It was the Labs after all.

Though maybe subconsciously, Akashi was trying to hurt Nijimura as much as he had hurt Seijuro.

“But he could have died.”

“Not like we had any other options.”

“And you gave him powers?”

 Akashi had to think about that. Honestly, he was hoping that Nijimura would just spill all his secrets in his delirium while undergoing the experiments so that they could stop them before it reached the point of completion.  But now that they were complete, there was no going back. This was the real reason Aomine was there, to be a guard and to help the scientists keep him in check. He also served as a guard for Nijimura if the Labs ever found out that he was a prisoner in case they would abuse him even further. Most importantly though, he was there so if Nijimura spilled any of his information, Aomine was there to collect it.  

“We were all hoping he would die or reveal what information he knew before he could obtain his powers.”

“But what do we do with him now?” Aomine blurted out, not able to hold back anymore.

“The best we can hope for is that some part of his mind is broken and that he will be willing to tell us what he knows before his powers manifest. If his loyalty proves too strong, we may just have to kill him.”

 Kise swallowed audibly at his statement.

“Something in him _did_ crack though.” Aomine practically whispered.

Akashi turned suddenly, feelings arising in a churning mess, feelings he couldn’t identify in his confusion, “Your reports said nothing of these.”

“My Prince, if I may give my finishing report now?” Aomine said formally and stood to full height. Akashi refrained from letting his confusion show on his face.

“You already submitted your last report this morning. There was practically nothing to show that he had, in any way, cracked.”

“That was my official report, Sir. I would like submit my unofficial report.” Akashi quickly dismissed Kise with his hand, who practically fled the room. He sat down, folding his leg and resting his chin on his hands. “Speak.”

“Akashi, I spent days with him as he slowly descended into madness. He cracked but then he was able to come back. He was able to survive.”

 Akashi listened intently, processing.

“How come this was never mentioned in your reports?”

“I figured others would read the reports as well,” Akashi was about to ask why others reading the report would be bad until Aomine continued.

“You see, what had cracked had something to do with you. I figured that anything dealing with us was too volatile to let others read into. Also, with how you have been reacting, having Tetsu read the reports might make him upset.”

“Something to do with me?” Akashi’s curiosity spiked.

“Yeah, he talked about you. I don’t know what feelings he has for you, nor how he got them considering he only met you months ago.” Akashi knew this was a lie, but he didn’t know how. 

“What did he say?”

“Nothing much but he strongly reacted when I mentioned you. Hah, he wouldn’t even let me call you an ass for courting Tetsu.”

Akashi had known Aomine had not been pleased by Akashi entering the picture with Kuroko but he never commented nor discussed about it.   

 “You’re the only reason he is sane.” Aomine finished.

“Thank you for your discretion on this, the last thing I need is suspicion thrown onto me by the nobles. I don’t need people blaming me for any more failures. You are dismissed.” Akashi waved his hand and Aomine left him.

Nijimura had thought of him throughout his experiments. But what kind of thoughts could sustain a man through his torture of having his organs ripped out before being put together again. What did Nijimura really think of him?

 Akashi sat in thought before attempting to reach Seijuro. When it was obvious that he was not going to get anything out of the other, he sat down and worked, getting all of the paperwork done he could work on to keep his mind off of the raven-haired man.

At some point Akashi fell asleep. It must have been all of the nights worrying about Nijimura that kept him up, before crashing down upon him.

For the first time in years, he dreamed.

He dreamt of a young boy running around outside alongside a tall woman with similar red hair to himself, laughing with him. Akashi spun around her but, when he looked up, saw white bones with rotten teeth laughing slowly instead, voice turning deeper. A red tint started to grow in spaces where there used to be eyes as blood gurgled from her hanging jaw, eye sockets and nose. The laughter had, long since, turned sinister.  

Akashi screamed, closing his eyes. When he opened them again, the spot where she was previously standing had become a black hole that slowly drained the color out of the garden.

The world turned grey, and the plants all started to wither with it. A howl of cold gale of wind flew in, carrying the words “Failure, a useless son, a disappointment to the Red Kingdom, faggot, a cursed _failure_.” Over again and again they whispered in his ears.  He clutched his ear attempting to block out the sound, but the sound seemed to come from everywhere and his hand did nothing to block the insults.

Amongst the violent winds he heard a soft whimper. He felt something tug inside of himself. He followed it throughout the garden which was slowing getting darker the more he ran. Eventually he came upon the place where the crying was coming from, dusk fell on the grey garden, and Akashi didn’t see so much as he heard.

“Go away, you can’t see me,” The voice sniffled out.

 He turned and kept looking for the source of the voice but, by now, the garden had just turned into a black void.

“Hello? Is anyone there?” He called out into the darkness. He didn’t get a response and the crying only intensified. “I can help you. Let me help you!”

He kept yelling into the darkness as the crying got louder. Right as Akashi felt as if his ears were going to burst and he was writhing on the floor, the crying voice replied.

“He can help.”

Then all was silent.

 A warm breeze pushed from behind him, ruffling his crimson bangs. He looked up and, off in the distance, there was a dim light. He slowly made his way to it and just as it seemed as if it was going to be forever, he reached the light. It was a door with light flowing from the edges of its outline. From the other side of the door Akashi could hear a soothing, yet complicated piano and violin duet.

He slowly pushed open the door. There, he saw a young Seijuro playing his violin that Akashi never touched but recognized as the one that sat collecting dust next to his current nightstand. He opened the door a bit further and saw that sitting at the piano was a young Nijimura, an age that Akashi never saw him at.

This must be one of Seijuro’s memories. He stood there and listened to the soothing music. They both were very good and played in time perfectly with each other. Even when one slipped up, the other compensated as if the mistake was a part of the score to begin with. Akashi looked around the room. This was the room at the end of the hall, next to Kuroko’s. It had been emptied since before Akashi could remember. He turned back to the duo when the music abruptly ended only to see Seijuro looking out of a window, his eyes glistening with unshed tears.

“He’s gone.” Seijuro said.

Akashi turned back to the room as the door creaked open and saw that the room was empty. A servant entered the room.

“Akashi-sama,” She said gently.

He watched with the servant, back onto Seijuro who had turned around. His hair seemed dull, his eyes rimmed with black circles. He looked slightly older, but not in a physical sense.

“It has been months since your valet mysteriously disappeared. “

“He betrayed me.” Seijuro said, voice ringing throughout the room. It felt as though the whole building was shaking, but it seemed as though only Akashi could feel it.

“He isn’t coming back, master. And your father tells you to prepare yourself for the Labs in the morning.” Seijuro seemed a little shocked by this but only hung his head. “I and some of the other staff are willing to help you escape.”

Seijuro’s head snapped up, and the air seemed to still. “And go to where? I am nothing now.”

The maid said something more and moved towards Seijuro but the silence became deafening again.  Seijuro’s thoughts were screaming through Akashi’s head with such a jumbled mess that he couldn’t begin to decipher it.

The repeated phrase ‘ _He’s not coming back, he’s not coming back – ‘_ was the loudest.

As the maid tried to hold Seijuro, he pushed her off and screamed Nijimura’s name like a curse, blinding and fierce.  The maid ran out of the room in fear and the whole room seemed to be caught in a white flame, slowly consuming everything until it claimed his consciousness.

Akashi woke with a start. What had he just witnessed in that dream? Was it possible that he just saw his own birth and that the cause of it was Nijimura?

 ** _Yes_** , Seijuro weakly spoke before returning to the dark.

What did this mean? Why was Seijuro showing him this now after all these years? Why now? But it seemed that Seijuro went back to being unhelpful before he could ask. Akashi could sit there all day contemplating what this all meant.  Though he knew one thing that it was obvious all the pain he experienced from Seijuro, the pain that consumed him, was Nijimura’s fault.

There was a soft knock before the door opened and Kuroko walked into the room.

“Akashi-kun, why do you feel confused?”

 Akashi quickly put up his mental barriers.

“Ah, it seems I had fallen asleep and had a dream.” Telling the truth was always easier to tell, he figured.

“You had a dream? That is new.”

“Yes, I can see you are confused as I am.” Kuroko gave a little laugh.

“What did you dream about?”

“My childhood.”

“Was it good?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Hm, well it’s time for dinner. I wanted to walk with you.”

Akashi stood and readjusted his clothing, making sure he looked presentable and that his black military uniform was in perfect condition. He went over to Kuroko and exited the door after him before making their way down to the dining hall.  

“Nijimura will be there at dinner. He’s probably the hungriest of us all.” Kuroko studied him, gauging his reaction.  Akashi had spent years, as both Seijuro and Akashi, training his body to not react. Akashi responded flippantly that it was fine.

They finally made it to the dining hall and sat for dinner. Nijimura kept his eyes on Akashi until the food came and eventually was able to drag his eyes to his food. Dinner was a quiet and quick event where the rest of the members of the squad kept up the conversations, telling of the raids that they led on a nearby base, only having to turn over three men to the Labs. It seemed as if the citizens were learning that Akashi’s squad didn’t want to harm the citizens any more than they already were.

After dinner, Akashi called Aomine, Kise, Midorima, and Momoi into a meeting.

They gave their report of the raid they lead that afternoon and Momoi had nothing of importance to report on the nobles that crawled around the castle. There was a little bit of talk of Masaomi falling ill, but it was probably just gossip from the power-hungry nobles also looking for a way to take the throne. After they had finished the reports they began to talk about the upcoming week which first started with the care of Nijimura. They had decided to keep him in the castle since putting him in the prison nearby would allow anyone to access him and that there was a risk his powers would be provoked out earlier than expected.  They decided that he was only to be around Akashi’s squad, to live with them.

“Where are we to house him?” Midorima asked.

“We cannot allow my father to find him so we cannot put him in the dungeons.” When he said this, a small amount of happiness and gratitude buzzed inside of him. This in turn made him light with his own glee at finally doing something the other Akashi wanted. “For now, put him in the empty room at end of our hall.”

“The room right next to Tetsu?” Aomine raised an eyebrow.

“It is the only empty room so it cannot be helped. Daiki, you seem to get along with Nijimura, can you move him?”

“Yeah, just don’t be surprised if he tries to run. First day in the Labs he bolted first chance he got.”

From this, they moved on to discussing about who would participate in the squad’s official duties now that Midorima had another responsibility for the week.

“That reminds me; who is currently looking after Nijimura?” Akashi had noticed that everyone who usually looked after Nijimura was in the room.

“Murasakibara-kun is.” Kuroko said as he entered the room.

“Ah Tetsuya, we were just attempting to figure out how to lead the raids for this week as Shintarou and Daiki will be responsible with keeping Nijimura secure while they test him.”

“I guess you’re going to bring Momoi into the field then?”

 Akashi hadn’t thought about that. Momoi usually stayed in the castle to keep an eye on his father and the other corrupt nobles, but he knew that every member of his squad was trained to the upmost of physical ability; she could take care of herself. She turned towards him, her eyes bright and hopeful.

“I guess that could be arranged.” Akashi nodded. She jumped up in joy and Akashi gave a small smile. “So, this week Momoi will join in the raids instead of Midorima.” He talked about a few minor points before closing the meeting.

Akashi made his way to the room next to Kuroko’s after everyone seemed to be busy talking to each other. He opened the door. The room’s air seemed stale, room dark as the light bulbs had never been replaced. The curtains were drawn together so Akashi walked over to them, opening the tall curtains and letting the light slowly envelope the room. The sun was just setting and orange light gracefully spilled into the empty room.

Dust had covered everything and was swirling in the air as Akashi walked. He had never thought much of this room before; his earliest memories were too fuzzy to realize that this was where he was born. Now that he could remember, the room held a sense of nostalgia and it was almost nauseating. He was flooded with good and bad feelings of the room.

He stood there observing the room before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, trying to imagine the room with the piano in it.

He was drawn out of his thoughts by a cough from the door. He slowly opened his eyes and looked towards the door where Nijimura was standing with Aomine, both looking confused. Aomine made a move to leave the room but Akashi raised his hand to stop him.

“I was just inspecting the room; it appears as though it will need new light bulbs.” Akashi fled the room before Nijimura could say anything.

He felt anger from himself and longing for Nijimura from Seijuro. Nijimura had left Seijuro, which led to his birth, the end and the beginning. It was confusing to say the least.

The next day he had awoken from another dreamless sleep. He didn’t know if it was good or bad. Not long after he had woken up, Kuroko came into the room holding his breakfast.

“I know this is early but I thought, with how things were going, you wouldn’t mind.”

Reading into his mind, it was more so to keep him away from Nijimura. He didn’t think Tetsuya could read his emotions with his strong mental walls placed up, but it was possible at some point that he accidentally let some of his confusion slip.

“Thank you, Tetsuya. How have things been going?”

They sat down and talked about the palace and the mission that his squad was currently performing, without him, on the outer reaches near the border. Apparently Nijimura had moved in fine, the lights had been replaced but they could not secure a bed for him without alerting the rest of the palace that there was someone else down the hall. So for the moment, he was using the floor.  

“He could have my bed and I could just move into here since I sleep here most nights anyways.” Kuroko suggested. Both Akashi and Seijuro were wary of this proposal.

**_I would tell you to say no, but…_ **

_There is no logic to saying no_.

 **Not at this time**.

“That sounds fine Tetsuya; I believe you can make the arrangements?”

“I had Murasakibara-kun move the bed in about an hour ago.”

“Ah, so this breakfast was just a bribe?” Tetsuya smiled at him.  

“Maybe.”

Akashi could hear that it was true in Tetsuya’s thoughts. He spent the day meeting nobles and keeping up appearances with Tetsuya, going to meetings, walking around in public in their uniforms, Kuroko in white and Akashi in black. Towards the evening they were finally done and retired to their wing for the evening until the rest of the squad came back and gave their reports. They all sat for dinner and Nijimura was practically screaming in his mind that he wanted to talk to Akashi.

Akashi didn’t want to talk to him. Nijimura must have also been giving off substantial amount of emotions because Kuroko kept giving worrying glances his way.  

Akashi sighed and decided to reach into Nijimura’s mind.

_What do you want?_

Nijimura was so surprised he spat out his water across the table, causing everyone to watch him in slight horror.

<Crap, I forgot you could do that.>

Akashi felt a smile tug at his lips but didn’t let it show.

<I want to talk to you.>

 _And you are_.

<No, the real you.>

At this Akashi lost all of his amusement and promptly left the room. The next five or so days he threw himself into his squadron and their raids, avoiding Nijimura at all costs. Tetsuya seemed to appreciate this and didn’t even mention it. He was more ruthless in the raids, decimating bases as quickly as they popped up.

The rest of the squad started to suspect something was off when he started going on raids by himself or with just Murasakibara since he never questioned Akashi. He could read it in their thoughts, but he didn’t know what else to do. His team needed to rest but he didn’t want to be there. He didn’t want anyone else to know that he was broken and that some spy had been the one to figure it out.

At the end of the week, Shintarou knocked on the door and Akashi permitted him entrance.

“Here is his file,” Shintarou placed a vanilla-coloured folder onto his desk.

“Hmm, he appears to be physically fine but what of his mental health?”

Shintarou readjusted his glasses, “Hard to say. I believe that you and Kuroko should do the assessment. There appears to be no damage I can detect but that means little when it comes to my abilities for testing the mind. Not to mention, we need to see if he will spill any info or if we are to dispose of him.”

Akashi sighed. He did not want to see him so soon but, if he didn’t, it would be too obvious that Nijimura affected him in some way. In addition to this, he needed to stop his solo raids before they started to be questioned out loud and not just in the minds of those around him.

 “Fine. later, Kuroko and I will have a look at him.”

“Good, and here,” He passed over a large silver bracelet. “For luck. I know you tell me to never read your future but, after your… performance earlier, I thought of it only for your safety. Your day has a very conflicted future; it is as if I am reading two people’s futures at once.”

Akashi hoped he didn’t try to read further into that and thankfully he didn’t make any further comment. Shintarou made a move to leave the room.

“One last thing, Shintarou,” He turned around, “What power were the Labs trying to bring out?”

He adjusted his glasses slightly, causing them to glare and obscure his eyes, “Apparently it is a trade secret. They won’t let anyone outside of the Labs know what they were doing.”

“That is interesting. So we are getting a surprise then, will you be able to handle him?”

“It shouldn’t be a problem. I just ask if I may have both Kise and Aomine there to be safe.”

“Good idea. Of course, you may borrow them. When will you start your training for him?”

“As soon as you’re done with your own testings.  We need to start preparing him for the abilities to manifest, especially since we do not know what they are.”

“Perfect.  I shall collect Kuroko then and make my way to his room when I am ready.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ey, I'm back, kinda, but, all thank my beta, please and thank you! Next chapter, next Thursday!


	6. So you finally decided to stop ignoring me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nijimura says some stuff, and he also learns some things, and Akashi and him get to talk. (I hate summaries and chapter titles, not that anyone reads them anyways.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot of fun with this chapter hope you enjoy! and thanks to Sadcrabby.

Akashi had been avoiding him since the dinner when he said he wanted to see the real him, the one he had known as a child. He knew somewhere inside that the kindness could be coaxed out of Akashi again; he had seen him when Akashi told him that he never broke his promise, had seen him when he had returned to the palace and had let him touch him. He knew deep down Akashi could be reached.

He sat there in his light blue room sitting inside one of the large windows covered with faded golden and yellowing lace curtains, gently blowing in the breeze. He looked around the room. He recognized this room, which was odd, since most of the palace had been remodeled from when he was last here. The calm colors had all been turned to violent shades of red in the rest of the room. It reminded him of a certain violent red head.

This room was the one where he and Akashi would take their music lessons. There used to be a large grand piano not far from where he had sat; even now he could still see the scratch marks in the wooden floor from when they had moved the piano. Sometimes he had found himself tracing these lines, waiting for Midorima to come and complete his tests but it had been a few days since then. He probably just finished analyzing the results and was now in the process of verifying them.

He was allowed out of the room for meals and sometimes Murasakibara would allow him out so that he could walk around the castle as they made their way to the kitchen and back, or sometimes he would show him secret stashes of food held by different members of the household, mostly greedy nobles who kept expensive sweets in their rooms to impress visitors. But as off late the sweet giant had been gone a lot and at these times Aomine would check up on him instead. This one he actually was allowed to talk to with no reserve, so he enjoyed his visits. Such as now.

The door opened up and Nijimura could tell it was Aomine by the way the oversized door opened unnaturally fast.

“So, what is Murasakibara up to today?”

“Out with your boyfriend again.”

At first the response had confused and made Nijimura mad, but at the same time it made his mind turn in delight. He knew that he wanted Akashi to be his since he was young, so it was no surprise to him that this led to discovering his romantic feelings he had been confronted with during the experiments. How could someone sustain him for so long if they weren’t that important?

“Again? What are the two of them doing?”

“More raids.” Aomine had explained in previous visits why their squad was in charge of the raids and how they were looking for a better future in order to change up the status quo, looking for any way to change the country short of killing the king.

“I thought you all did that together?”

“Yeah, but we don’t have stamina like Akashi, at least not in the mood he is in. So he only took Murasakibara with him. You might have another competitor there, alongside Kuroko.” They both gave a snort at that. It was impossible for either of them to get what they wanted, so it was easier to just joke about it.

“Why Murasakibara?”

“Well, we’re all worried. Akashi doesn’t get into these moods very often and even though we haven’t questioned him verbally yet, he can hear our thoughts. Only Murasakibara doesn’t give a flying frick and won’t question Akashi, even in his mind.”

“You’re right, I do have another competitor.” 

The two continued joking. After that, Aomine gave a report on how their changing of the kingdom was slow but steady as they were making progress with fewer resistant going on their own. They sat there stuck in their thoughts of a brighter future for a while, but then Aomine suddenly turned serious.

“Why Akashi?”

“What?” Nijimura was caught by surprise.

“I mean, you don’t even know him and the only thing he has done is cause you pain.”

Nijimura swallowed thickly, a little bit hesitant to delve into his past with him. But Aomine had proved to be a real friend and really the only one he could talk and relate to.

“Aomine, that’s where you are wrong. I know him better than everyone of you. I know you guys only met in the labs but I knew him even before that.”

Aomine looked confused, staring back at him, “Wait, are you saying…?”

“Yes, I used to live here. I worked in this very palace.”

Aomine’s eyes went wide and he gave a whistle, processing the information. Nijimura felt like a weight, that he himself wasn’t aware of until now, had been lifted from his chest. He had been hiding this crucial information since he had left the Red Kingdom so many years ago.

“So, you were one of the ones that escaped.”

“Yeah.”

Aomine shook his head and gave him a lopsided smile, “So, you’re a traitor.”

 The weight that he thought was gone returned; it was different, but it was there. Aomine was right, he had betrayed not only the kingdom of his birth, but also Akashi.

His chest felt heavy, “Y-yeah.”

Aomine must have noticed his distressed face.

“Crap, I’m not going to tell anyone, I swear.” Aomine rushed to say.

“No, I didn’t think you would, but I –“His usually stony eyes suddenly felt blurry. “I be-betrayed Akashi.”

 “Dude.” That was the only thing that Aomine could get out before the doors burst in and Murasakibara walked inside. Nijimura quickly blinked out the forming tears and the three changed topic.

“This room is so boring; you only have a bed in this huge space,” Murasakibara commented.

“Yeah, you’re right. It needs some help.”

“Anything you particularly want? We can probably find a night stand or dresser, or something to take up the empty space.”

Nijimura thought about it for a while before finally replying after Aomine had started to complain, “It can’t take you _that_ long to remember what furniture is!”

“Hm, I think what this room needs is a piano.” Nijimura requested.  

“A piano?”

“Yeah, there used to be one in here.”

“How would you know that? This room has always been empty.” Murasakibara asked, struggling to get his words out around the candy he had stuffed into his mouth. Nijimura and Aomine shared a look.

“Oh, come on. I have been here for days on end and of course I would’ve noticed the scratches in the floor. They could only be from a grand piano!” Nijimura quickly said, recovering.

“That still doesn’t explain why you want a piano.” This time it was Aomine who questioned him.

“When I was young, I used to play with my friend who would play on his violin.”

“Ah, I see.” Aomine said.

“But you’re probably out of practice if it has been so long since then.”

“All the more reason to get one here sooner.”

They all then agreed to get the piano as soon as they could. Momoi came in to tell the other two that they were to report to Akashi who had finally stopped going on missions alone and was giving them to his team. They asked her where they could find a piano (real subtle). When she questioned them at first, they dodged the question. Eventually it became obvious the other two had no interest in the instrument so they crumbled and told her the truth. According to her, there had been an abandoned one, from who knows where, that had been put into storage in the basement. Nijimura had a creeping suspicion that the piano she mentioned had been the one to previously grace the room.  

The three had just finished up with the details and their plans and Aomine and Murasakibara left. Momoi stayed behind to ask a few questions of Nijimura, she seemed to be interested in the friendship he was forming with Aomine.

Not long after there was a soft knock at the door. Momoi grabbed the door, opening it. A tall man with a bob of black hair, a very feminine stance, and a kind face entered the room. Nijimura recognized him as the maid that came in to change his sheets earlier that day. He watched as he walked in with two stools in his arms.

 “Reo-chan! It’s great to see you! I’ve heard you’ve come back from your trip to see your family!” Momoi called out and helped him with the chairs.

Not long after that Kuroko came in (This is new). Following him Akashi entered the room with a stiff posture. As soon as he saw the red head his heart sped up, and his mind swelled with the prince’s image. Kuroko gave him a glare and of course Akashi’s face didn’t change, ever the stoic perfect prince.

The two sat on the stools and Akashi dismissed the others with a nod and “Thank you Reo.”

For a long moment they all just sat there in awkward silence, then Akashi finally spoke, his voice neutral but unquestionable.

“We are here for the sole purpose of testing your mental capabilities.” What was being left unsaid was that this was also their last attempt to get any information out of him. “Let us begin.”

They began with simple questions, such as his name, age, their own names and asking if he knew where he was. They also asked him about the labs, his memories were then cross referenced with the details and experiences from Aomine’s reports.

Once his memory was tested, the fun began. Kuroko went first with his test. He tested his emotional response, making sure he felt sad when he talked about the children in the labs, relief at his reports of Kagami’s escape and various other emotions, which he deemed in working order. It finally got to the test of anger which got Kuroko attempting to make him feel angry by making fun of him (though it was more weird than anything, Akashi must have picked up on this thought as his eyes gave a slight smile.) When this didn’t work, he did something that he didn’t expect.

He leaned over and kissed Akashi who was surprised enough that he just sat there, not moving away or not returning it. His left eye seemed to twitch, but it could’ve just been his imagination. This caused Nijimura’s anger to burn with intensity and Kuroko pulled back with a smug smile on his face.

“All of his emotions are in working order. Well, at least working as they were when he first arrived here.” Kuroko announced. Akashi looked as though he was having a small internal battle for a minute before he recomposed himself.

“Good, now we should do some word association.”

 He didn’t have to say anything because Akashi could read his mind, but if he wanted to, he could.  They compared these responses to the ones they had obtained through torture and common sense. They went through several easy ones, such as animals. They even used the word “lab”. While they were still going through the easy words, Kuroko said the word “betrayal”. It was supposed to make him think about the Black Kingdom, or maybe even information they could use, but instead he thought of Akashi and how Nijimura betrayed him and the Red Kingdom. His thoughts surprised Akashi.

Guilt settled in his gut and he couldn’t get rid of it. He was glad he didn’t have to say this out loud, but it didn’t stop Akashi from writing down a few words onto his assessment papers, which Kuroko looked at, confused. They continued and after several more words, they finished the section.

 Next, they started back with the questions. This time, there with some new ones added in the mix. They asked his name, age, but then they asked his place of origin which he hesitated on and couldn’t answer at first. But the guilt was there, swirling through his mind like a dark storm and eventually he said the Red Kingdom.

He couldn’t keep lying to himself, especially with Akashi in front of him. Kuroko shot up.  Akashi looked mildly shocked and put his arm on Kuroko, pulling him back down to the seat. They went back through the same tests until the word “Master” came up.

He actually said out loud this time, “Akashi.”

Kuroko got up slowly, pacing around his chair, looking almost sad when he asked, “Who are you loyal to?”

 Nijimura took a deep breath. This was it; he couldn’t hold back the truth. It had forced to break out of him in the Labs, he was forced to face himself, all that he had lost, realizing that all he ever wanted was the man in front of him. He had tried so hard when he left to forget, but he never could.  He couldn’t admit it to anyone, like it was some kind of deep dark secret. He had been able to convince himself to hate the kingdom which rejected his father, which had ruined lives, and he was able to love the Black Kingdom for not. But in the end, he had been searching for love since he had left Akashi, thinking he saw it on the other side. He realized he never did.

No more lies.

 No more hiding, it hadn’t helped anyways.

“My Lord, Prince Akashi Seijuro,” He said as strongly as he could, his voice so full of emotion it wavered. Kuroko reeled from both the emotion and the admission. Akashi’s eyes softened, and he looked almost happy.

After a moment Kuroko collected his composure, sitting back down.

“If this is true then, you wouldn’t mind telling me everything the Black Kingdom has on the Red Kingdom?” Akashi questioned, eyes unreadable.

“No, sire.” Nijimura couldn’t help the formality after the admission. The atmosphere in the room had changed from a hopeless, quiet emptiness to one that was charged with emotions. Nijimura buzzed with nervous energy, feeling the need to prove himself.

“Let us start with the files then. What did they contain? You just have to think about them, but if it helps, talk about them as well.”

Nijimura felt himself hesitate. After so long of holding back, it was hard to reveal all the information he had strived to defend.

_You said you were loyal to me, prove it. Don’t worry about the consequences; I never let those in my circle get hurt. I will protect you from the Black Kingdom if they come for you._

This sent a shiver down his spine. Could he really betray the Black Kingdom now? Then he looked at Akashi.

Yes, for him, he could.

_Of course, my Prince._

And like that the flood gates were open. They spent the rest of the day discussing all of the work he had done for the Black Kingdom until his brain felt like mush. Finally, time for dinner came and they went to the dining hall. Akashi promised that he would continue tomorrow. It sounded horrible, trying to remember everything, but it also was exciting. He was going to see Akashi again the very next day. Akashi walked with such stiff purpose, he looked better then he had in over a week. The most important thing was that he looked _alive_. The others in dinning hall noticed this and the room seemed livelier and more relaxed then it had in the past. They talked about everything and nothing at all. Eventually Akashi deemed it fit to leave, but before leaving, he turned to address Midorima.

“Shintaro, please be prepared to train Shuzo. I shall hand him over to you in a few days. Train him as if he was to be one of us.” Akashi had said ‘Shuzo’ which meant he was back in his good graces, but the fact that he said it publicly was odd. He would have to ask Akashi about it later, maybe.

Later that evening, Nijimura was looking out of his window, reflecting on his day. Akashi knew now, and Kuroko hopefully wouldn’t out him as a traitor. Not only that, he honestly didn’t feel that much guilt about betraying the Black Kingdom, not if it was for Akashi.

 He was lost in his thoughts until a knock came from the large set of doors. He opened them and standing there was Kise and Murasakibara carrying the heavy grand piano. He figured Kise must have copied the power of the giant to lift it. Nijimura quickly got out of their way as the pair wobbled it through the door. Aomine came waltzing in after them.

“You’re not going to do any of the work?” Nijimura asked him.

“Nah, I was supervising.” He snorted at that and they set up the piano.

 Nijimura attempted to play a song after the others had started begging to hear something after their hard work of getting it to the third floor from the first. As it turned out though, the piano was horribly out of tune. Murasakibara and Kise groaned in disappointment, complaining as they left the room. Aomine stayed however.

“Kuroko told me, as his best friend, that you declared loyalty to Akashi.”

“I did.”

“He also told me that you admitted you used to live in the Red Kingdom.”

Nijimura sighed, “That too.  I hope he doesn’t out me. I know that he doesn’t like me.”

“Don’t worry, he would be just as much a traitor if the King heard half the things he says. He enjoys slandering his reign. The only reason he isn’t dead is his connection to Akashi.” Aomine admitted. This only slightly brought up Nijimura’s spirts, but the end reminded him what little he meant to the other. Aomine continued, “So, declaring loyalty, Akashi having you trained.  You’re turning out to be one of us.”

“Hah, I don’t know. He probably just doesn’t want me to blow up and take the castle.”

“Like that would ever happen. What crap power would you have to do that? A self-destruct button is not something the Labs would deem that useful and I doubt they would ever try it.”

“You might be right.”

“Of course I’m right.” He stood there for a minute, “Would you even want to be one of us?”

“I don’t know, but if Akashi asked of it I would. I really have nothing to do and I don’t have a place to go back to either, so I guess.”

Aomine nodded as if he felt the same, and maybe he did. He went back to his room and Nijimura went to bed. His bed was Kuroko’s old bed and it smelled of him. Nijimura didn’t really particularly like the idea of sleeping on the bed, not to mention, it meant that Kuroko was sleeping somewhere else. From what he knew and what Aomine had told him before, he was probably in Akashi’s bed.

His mood soured at the thought; Akashi was his. Nijimura wasn’t going to deny this to himself anymore. He yanked off the blankets and laid on the floor that night.

The next morning, Akashi had come in with just Reo who brought his breakfast and removed the second stool from the room.

“Good morning Nijimura, it’s just Sei-chan today so I’ll take this other stool and get out of the way.” He cheerfully said before leaving the room, but not before winking at Akashi.

“What was that about? ‘Sei-chan’?” Nijimura asked slowly, sleep still clogging his mind. Akashi didn’t react.

“Reo has his own ideas and I try not to question them.  It doesn’t do any good.” Akashi looked around the room as Nijimura ate. He seemed almost nostalgic as he looked around him. Then he noticed the piano and looked back at Nijimura questioningly.

“Kise and Murasakibara brought it up, though it’s out of tune.”

Akashi nodded and ran his hand along the keys. He gave it a critical look, “This is the same piano from before.”

Nijimura smiled; he knew that his Akashi was in there, “So you still do remember playing in this room?”

Akashi’s hand stilled on the keys. From his words or thoughts, he didn’t know.

In almost a whisper he said, “No, I don’t.”

Nijimura was confused, “But-“

He was cut off, “I don’t remember. Only Seijuro does.”

Nijimura closed his mouth, even more bamboozled.

“Your Akashi,” He clarified as if it explained everything Nijimura didn’t know. However, his answer did nothing to clear up the confusion.

 Akashi was Akashi. Yeah he had changed but the core of the personality he knew was still there.

“You may have changed but you are not two different people.”

“So you can’t tell?” He seemed almost relived but also disappointed.

“Tell what?”

“Nothing,” His eye seemed to flicker, like the gold was battling with the old cheery color it used to hold.

Something in Nijimura started putting the pieces together. Something was wrong with Akashi, in some way he was broken. What did the Labs do with him?

 _The Labs?_ Akashi practically shouted in his mind. The sudden change in tone jarred his mind, _It wasn’t the Labs that did this, it was you! You’re the one who pushed Seijuro so far he created me! It’s your fault!_

Akashi looked like he was about to storm off but Nijimura quickly held onto his arm. Akashi released his anger on his mind, making him flinch enough for Akashi to rip himself away from his grasp.

 “Wait,” He breathed out, practically soundless.  And Akashi did wait, his left eye in a dizzying spiral of the two colors.

“Created you? My fault? Help me understand.” Nijimura asked quietly.

His eye finally decided on red; it had seemed almost impossible to see that color again.

“I will convince him to tell you but for now give him time. He doesn’t understand either.” Akashi said softly, his voice smooth and his whole posture more graceful.

But it was quickly replaced as he blinked, and his eye returned to the shade of solid sharp gold. Nijimura just stared at him for a moment as Akashi seemed to be lost in himself.  Finally, he released a long sigh.

“Every time you see your Akashi, you actually see him. I thought you could tell that he was in there. You could, in a way, but you failed to realize that we are two and not one personality.”

 Nijimura had to sit down for this. Akashi moved to look out the window.

“You see, I was born here, in this very room, after you left. Your sudden departure caused Seijuro to hold everything in; he took your promise beyond what was healthy and he still does. He won’t even let me break it, he forces me to trap all my emotions and push anyone away, because of this Kuroko and I have done little.”

Nijimura breathed out in relief but Akashi just glared at him. He continued, “I was born before the Labs. Seijuro, the Akashi you grew up with, finally let me see the memory of when I was born. It was in this room he broke down from the pain of your absence. All my pain was all of his pain festering from that moment. _You_ are the real Mind Breaker.”

His mind seemed to go into overdrive but at the same time, everything blanked. He was the reason Akashi became so broken? _He_ actually broke him? How was this even possible? His heart felt heavy, aching everywhere in his chest.  He was on the verge of crying, but most of all he wanted to hold Akashi like he used to when they were children. His tongue felt like sand paper.

“So, the real Akashi separated himself? He’s in there right? Can I talk to the real one?”

Akashi mumbled something.

“What did you say?”

“I am real too,” It was barely over a whisper.

“I wasn’t implying…”

“You were.”

Nijimura got up, he felt like crap, but nonetheless he made his way over to Akashi. His eyes were almost breaking from tears that he knew would spill. He pulled Akashi into an embrace who didn’t resist but didn’t return the hug either, the same reaction he had to Kuroko’s kiss yesterday.  

“I’m sorry,” The tears started to flow, “I’m sorry I hurt you, both of you. I’m sorry I was the cause you broke and the cause that you were born into such a pain filled world. Akashi, it doesn’t matter how much you splinter. Each part of you is precious, each part of you is realer than reality to me. I cherish every bit of you, even the bits that don’t care about me, because they are you. They are all you, and you are a precious person to me.”

He felt Akashi return his embrace, hands gripping around his shirt with force, he then felt his warm tears begin to fall. His shoulders quivered a little, but quickly evolved into wracked sobs as he finally released all of his pent-up pain. Everything that he had held back he was finally allowing to show, and he certainly did. When the sobs turned to whimpers Nijimura spoke up:

“The thought of you got me through the Labs, your very visage gives me strength and without you I would be dead and returned to dust. You are the air that I breath. I never meant to hurt you and knowing I have, I would do anything to rectify it. Just tell me. Tell me.”

His voice broke, and they both grieved for Seijuro, but also for themselves and how their lives turned into such chaos. How did everything get so messed up? It was so much easier when they were just children.

After a while Akashi buried his head in Nijimura’s chest as they both sank to the floor, their legs not strong enough to hold up the weight of all their emotion.  Akashi’s blood red hair splayed against Nijimura’s shirt; Nijimura couldn’t help but to think that it was beautiful, and then Akashi raised his face. Nijimura had never been allowed to see Akashi’s crying face, and it seemed that Akashi realized this just a moment too late.

It was only for a spit second, but Nijimura had never seen his eyes glow so much; they were pools reflecting the light in a way that caused them to shine. Nijimura didn’t ever want to forget that moment. To him it was the most beautiful thing on earth seeing such raw emotion in those normally calculating and calm gaze. Akashi turned from him but didn’t make a move to shift himself out of Nijimura’s arms.  

“It is probably best if we finish with the information I need today.” Nijimura agreed and that was what they ended up doing for the rest of the day, eventually moving from the floor to sitting on chairs.

 Nijimura was a little upset at the loss of contact, but who knew who would walk in. During the early afternoon they finished up and Akashi left to go put them in official papers under anonymous sources, but not before leaving a promise to return that evening. Nijimura, emotionally exhausted, took a nap as soon as Akashi left.

His mind felt like mush again. He was lucky enough to have a dreamless sleep even after learning what he had done.  He was worried about the prospect of him having nightmares, nightmares of Akashi hating him. He even managed to sleep through dinner, only waking up after it had become dark. He was a little afraid that he had missed Akashi, until he heard a soft knock at the door. Just as he promised, Akashi returned that evening, another man behind him. Nijimura’s heart swelled at the sight of Akashi, both with joy that he was there and with pain at knowing that Akashi blamed him for all of his pain and splintering. Still, Nijimura had spoken the truth; he would always want any and all parts of him, accept him no matter who he was.

“He is here to tune the piano,” Akashi explained gesturing to the man behind him, “I wanted you to be able to play it.”

The tuner went to work and the two just stood there watching him. He finished as quickly as he could, not wanting to be under the gaze of the Red Prince more than he had to. Nijimura had forgotten that Akashi was called the Mind Breaker for a reason and was generally feared among the people. As soon as the tuner had left, Akashi turned towards him, “Play?”

Nijimura knew this was coming and had been attempting to figure out a song to play. He sat down and started a song that they had played when they were kids. He messed up on most of it, but it was a song they had made up together, so it didn’t help that there was no music sheet there to guide him. He powered through it no matter.

Akashi watched him for some moments, watching his fingers, before moving to look at the window as if contemplating something. When the song came to an end, Akashi pushed open the windows and a breeze swept through the room. He began to speak hastily.

“I have my men on guard duty tonight. They will make sure you get out.”

“What?”

“I’m letting you leave. Go now, you won’t get another chance.”

“Akashi, I can’t leave you.”

“If you want to escape this castle, you will.”

“Why don’t you come with me?”

“I can’t. I have all my subjects here and I can’t abandon them, not now. This is not only the land of my father, but it is also the land of my mother and these people deserve someone to protect them. Probably someone better than me, but I am the best they have.”

“Then I am staying here, with you, to see your dream come into reality.”

“Why? You could be free, of all of this.”

“Where would I go? Why would I ever want to leave you now that I have you back?”

“You could go anywhere. There is land outside of these two kingdoms, places of peace. Why would you want to be around me? It is utter chaos here; you’ll probably die trying to bring change to this cursed land.”

“It would take every god in existence to pull me away from your side. I will never be willing to leave you, but if you ask of it again, I will go.”

“So I am stronger then all the immortals?” Akashi joked.

“Yes.” Nijimura airily replied. Akashi looked away.

“You begin training your powers tomorrow. Be ready.”

With that, Akashi left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you get my old/original Ch.5 reference? Ha.  
> I work for love in the forms of kudos and comments.


	7. What did you say?!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reo joins the cast, Nijimura finally get his power!! and Akashi wants to fight himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who left comments and Kudos! and thank you Sadcrabby.

Akashi awoke the next morning, Kuroko on the other side of the huge bed. His thoughts moved towards his dreams and whether they had memories or not, Akashi didn’t know.

He dreamt of being held by Nijimura when they were younger, and they had talked endlessly into the nights, but Akashi didn’t remember what was being said, but he did remember the comfort and warmth of the embrace. This made him turn to yesterday where he had physically felt his embrace. Being on the floor in Nijimura’s strong arms was both amazing and awful. It was so good to feel another human, to be consumed in Nijimura’s height and bulk in order to hide away from the world, to be allowed comfort in the embrace of another. It was addictive. So much so that he couldn’t bring himself to leave the other’s arms even though he didn’t really want to be touched by the raven-haired man. He wanted to hold Kuroko like that instead, but he knew Seijuro would never agree to it.

Akashi remembered when he had asked, as a joke, if he was stronger then the immortals, and Nijimura with all seriousness replied that he was, his eyes reflecting the sentiment. It was ridiculous but Akashi had found himself having to look away. When he had given Nijimura the chance to escape, he wouldn’t leave without Akashi even though it had been years since they had seen each other and both of them had changed so much. Yet, despite all this they still yearned for each other. Akashi still wanted Kuroko but the admiration Nijimura showered him with had pleased him. A bit of doubt trickled through him as his feelings jumbled together. He knew he truly cared and had genuine feelings for Kuroko but if he pretended to like Nijimura he could do anything he wanted and actually live a life he never experienced. But it would mean betraying himself.

Kuroko stirred on the other side of the bed and turned to look at him, his soft baby blue eyes were so full of kindness and Akashi knew while looking into those calming depths that he could never let this go. For as long as he lived, Kuroko was too precious to even think about leaving him. Was this how Seijuro and Nijimura felt when they were together?

“Good morning Akashi-kun,” Kuroko greeted sleepily.

Akashi returned the sentiment and prepared for the day. They went about their daily tasks and, later that day, Akashi remembered that Nijimura had begun training. He checked up on him but it didn’t seem like much progress was being made so far. His power should come in any time now and until then they were making sure he was physically and mentally prepared. Akashi had briefly read the regimen. From what he could tell, it was mostly meditation and physical conditioning until his power surfaced in one of the two areas. If they had left him at the Labs, the scientists would’ve left him alone until the power presented itself, which could take months or never happen, this caused a problem as sometimes individuals may be released without ever knowing their power which later manifested and caused issues all across the board.

Later in the day he was finishing paper work. Oh the joys of having his own unit that he didn’t trust anyone else with. While he was working diligently on the papers, Reo came into the room without knocking, not that he ever did anyway. Reo cleaned around the room before sitting on top of his desk, waiting patiently for acknowledgement.

“Hello Reo, may I ask what do you need?” Akashi finally asked after the man, who had been board waiting for half an hour, had splayed himself across his desk making it very difficult to get to the papers underneath.

“Oh Sei-chan, you’re really not going to ask your best friend about his trip?” Akashi gave a little chuckle.

“Best friend? I don’t think I can afford to have one of those.”

 Reo huffed at this but didn’t move, Akashi was finally able to dislodge a paper and began reading the next report. Reo didn’t give up though, instead he incessantly thought about dumb tongue twisters over and over as loud as he could think until it became annoyingly unbearable.  

“Fine, how was your trip?”

“You lasted longer than you usually do. Back at the Labs it would have been only mere seconds before you did what I wanted.” It was an exaggeration claim, but it wasn’t too far off either.

“The days we spent sharing a room in the Labs were a long time ago. Anyways, your sister, I presumed you visited her?”

“Yes, she is well. Her second child is a healthy young girl.”

“That is good to hear. What took you so long to get back though? It’s been months.”

“Do you know how hard it is to take care of a child?”

“I practically raised myself,” Akashi didn’t remember, but he knew that it was true.

“That doesn’t count.”

“Then, no.”

“Well then, it is a lot of work and her husband is still not back from the Labs. We think the worst has happened.”

“My condolences.”

“Yes well, her older son is almost eight which is the age most get sent off to the Labs nowadays. So I stayed longer to try and prepare him mentally for what he will face. He’s too young.” He dropped off into thought.

“The age dropped again?”

“Yes, they are thinking it’s best to start before any sign of puberty and it keeps going down as mutated genes are beginning to spread, causing puberty to start prematurely.”

Akashi frowned; this was not good news, “Don’t beat yourself up for it, there is nothing you can do about it. You have no political power remember?”

He didn’t need to be reminded. Reo was looking distant and unsettled from the age drop, Akashi didn’t like Reo looking so worried he was usually so carefree in his manner.

“How are you though?”  Akashi continued to press.

“Well it was the first time I had ever given a baby milk and now I think I want a kid. Akashi, will you give me one?” He said nonchalantly, a devious smile gracing his face.

Reo had the ability to change his gender at will, and with it, his body’s hormones (Though despite this, he often preferred to stay male). His power wasn’t deemed as important to the Labs and he would have been sent back to his house in the slums no better off than when he left, if anything he would be in more danger of becoming a sex slave and so Akashi took him in as his loyal friend and got him a job in the castle as a maid, but definitely not as his baby mama.

“I don’t think certain people would be pleased.”

“Are you talking about the stupid nobles, or Tetsu-chan?”

“Both,” He said flippantly, going back to his work. He was trying hard not to think of Nijimura.  

“Hmmm, from what I know about you, I would say neither. You don’t care about the nobles and Tetsu-chan would love taking care of a child, especially yours. Who are you really scared of displeasing?”

“Why do you think there is someone else involved?”

“Women’s intuition.”

“Don’t you have work to be doing?” Akashi said pointedly, giving him a stern look.

 Reo laughed and left, apparently not feeling pushy today, but Akashi knew it wouldn’t last long. Reo always got whatever he wanted; it wouldn’t surprise him if Reo knew there were two Akashis.

The next few days were calm and Akashi managed to get all his work finished. He was even able to take Tetsuya out and avoid Reo enough that he never had the chance to pry anymore. As the days went past, Nijimura still hadn’t shown any signs of his powers manifesting.

One day, Akashi had gone to watch Nijimura’s progression. He watched the training with such focus that he didn’t realise Reo had snuck up on him until it was too late. He ran over to him with a grace someone of that size should not be able to move with.

 “Sei-chan, what are you doing?” As soon as came over he looked down to see Nijimura. He then looked back at Akashi with a knowing look.

 Akashi tried to read his thoughts, but Akashi had taught Reo how to block out physic invasion to protect himself and any secrets he carried, which was only possible for him to do by consistently changing the gender of his brain, the constant change making it impossible to lock onto his brain as it was like sifting through dozens of puppies for one that kept running away before you could even catch it. With that, he couldn’t get by the shifting barriers no matter how hard he tried to focus to pass through. Eventually, he gave up with an internal defeated sigh.

“What have you deduced now?”

“Oh, nothing of importance. Just wondering why you’re scared of having kids with me.”

“I think that your conclusion is wrong.”

“Don’t worry Sei-chan, I won’t say a word. I don’t know what happened while I was gone but I trust you.”

Akashi didn’t know how to interpret that but decided to not say anything more.  Seijuro seemed amused and pleased with Reo; he always had a particular fondness for him.  

That evening Akashi visited Nijimura’s room. He hadn’t been there ever since he told him to leave. If he had to be honest with himself, he was afraid that Seijuro’s feelings were creeping into his own. Nijimura was already in the room and practicing the piano. He was so into what he was doing that he didn’t realize Akashi had entered the room until he gave him a soft clap after finishing his song. He was at first shocked, but Akashi just sat and motioned for him to play more.

 When the sun had disappeared hours ago, Nijimura finally stopped and Akashi left before they could start talking. Seijuro seemed fine with this decision, content with just listening to the piano. He did this for several evenings, paying a visit to Nijimura’s room in order to listen to the soft melodies of his piano and the way he worked his fingers across the various keys. Though one evening Kuroko came to find him and when he saw him there, he looked mildly upset.  Akashi had gotten up and followed him out before he could say anything.

Finally after a week, Nijimura’s powers kicked in. It happened while he was meditating according to the report, no external trigger was detected to be the cause of the power manifestation apparently. One moment he was in the training ground and the next he had appeared in front of Akashi while Reo was begging him for a child with his arms wrapped around his knees forcing him to stand there and listen. Tetsuya was there, laughing gently at Reo’s persistent begging and the outright rejection he had received. They all turned to see Nijimura sitting there, his lips pouting as he frowned. Akashi opened his mouth to explain but Nijimura disappeared as quickly as he had come. Since then, Reo didn’t make anymore requests to have Akashi’s babies after that.

Akashi still visited Nijimura that evening to listen to his piano and he was intrigued when he got there to see Tetsuya already present, listening. Akashi sat next to him in silence. He knew Tetsuya was reading him for any emotions he might be feeling and when he didn’t show any, he seemed happier.

The next day, Akashi was overlooking reports that other squadrons had reported. It was true that children were being sent to the Labs at a younger age then what had been previously allowed. Akashi was attempting to figure out a way to help without losing more power status. Maybe he could cozy up to some of the nobles, but he quickly dismissed the idea. The thought made him sick; giving people power over him? Never.

Suddenly, much like the first time, Nijimura appeared out of thin air, disrupting his thoughts.

“Shuzo,” He greeted, giving him the usual stern look.

He could hear his thoughts expressing the utter joy of seeing Akashi, but also the hesitance to talk to him for fear of being hated for what he had unintentionally caused years ago. Akashi understood this, he didn’t like his feelings being mixed up with Seijuro’s concern for Nijimura. The fact that they were though made him feel wonderful and awful altogether whenever he was close to him.

“Sei,” He returned in acknowledgement.

 Akashi glared a little at the nickname. Nijimura may have been accepted into Akashi’s world and even had the favor of Seijuro, but that didn’t mean they were suddenly close again.

“What gives you the right to call me that?”

Nijimura was taken aback, “Oh, sorry. It was a nickname you let me call you back when we were children.”

Akashi had never heard of this, but then again, he knew very little about Seijuro’s past. Honestly, if he wasn’t so emotionally confused he should have been able to logically put that together.

 “Not to mention you call me Shuzo,” Nijimura added.

“That is his name then, not mine. Please don’t call me that. Besides, I call everyone by their first name; it demonstrates the difference in our place.”

“Okay, then what do I call you? Should I call both of you by the same name?”

“Do what you want,” Despite what he said, Akashi secretly hoped he referred to them with different names. They were two separate individuals, two different people, and he had never been identified differently from Seijuro.  The chance to actually be his own person caught his curiosity.

“You two are so different, so I think I’ll call you Akashi, and call the other Sei. Is that okay?” Akashi felt warm fondness at the nickname from Seijuro.

“I believe we both find that suitable,” Akashi responded.

“Nijimura, get back to training!” Aomine yelled off from a distance away.

 Nijimura gave Akashi a smile before disappearing with practically no sound; presumably back to the training grounds and leaving Akashi alone with his thoughts. He thought of everything he needed to do before his mind trailed back to Nijimura. The warmth he felt from Seijuro was becoming annoying. It had been there since he allowed him to tell the truth. Whenever he ever tried talking to Seijuro it was always just a continuous line of thought relating to Nijimura. Even now he could hear his continuous thoughts in his head, **_I wonder if Nijimura still likes the same things he did as a child. His power could be a huge asset to the team-_**

_Your relationship is not healthy, Seijuro. You obsess over him and he obsesses over you. It’s nothing but ancient connections. He caused you so much pain and now you just want to accept him without question or consequence? As if it never happened? We had a perfectly fine relationship with Tetsuya and it is a healthier one then the one you have with Shuzo, yet you don’t even try to talk to him._

**_I can see where you are coming from. But if you can tell when a relationship is bad, you can tell when one is good also. So, help me make this one good._ **

_I am not a counselor_.

Akashi couldn't believe what Seijuro was saying. He truly was obsessed with Shuzo and wasn’t going to budge from his pursuit for him. He didn't know what else to say in response. He wanted this to end, he only wanted Kuroko and his thoughts drifted to him.  

As if Seijuro followed his train of thought, he said, **_Fine then, we will go to Kuroko_. **

_But he doesn't know about you._

**_Then we will tell him._ **

Fear gripped his heart. To tell Testuya that there were two of him, that he was just a copy, that they were just a lie. It was too much for him to handle.

_No, I cannot._

**_Then I will._ **

Before he could make any other further comment, Seijuro ripped control from him. It was just as painful as it the first time, his eye stinging with pain as it forcefully changed color. Seijuro had never tried to gain control for years and this made it twice in the past year now that he attempted to take over all for that lowly traitor.

Seijuro moved their body in calm peaceful grace, nothing like how Akashi would storm through the palace in an attempt to embody power in his stiff posture. He floated through the halls like a goddess or a ghost, gracing the palace with his presence.

 It was odd sitting in the back of his head like this; it was the first time that he could really experience the feeling. Whenever Seijuro took over, it was usually only for a second. Now though, he could feel all of his limbs moving but the thing that disturbed him was that he wasn’t moving them himself like he was used to. It made him feel itchy, stripped, and powerless and as much as he didn’t like this feeling, he knew there was no way he could get his body back from its original owner if he didn't allow it.

He went from room to room, looking for Kuroko. He passed Kise who was going to say hello, but it seemed at last minute he turned around and walked down a hall before Akashi was close enough. They also passed Midorima, who Seijuro did greet, and who Akashi usually did not. Midorima seemed shocked at this but pleased as they passed him. Eventually, he found Kuroko sitting on his bed, perhaps thinking over what had happened during their interrogation with Nijimura.  

“Kuroko?” Seijuro said softly.

“Hm, Akashi-kun, I was just thinking,” He looked up and his small smile faltered a little, “Your eye?”

“What about it?”

“They are the same color.”

“Ah, yes. It seems to do that.”

 Kuroko just looked at him in confusion.  

“I have a request for you.”

“Anything.”

“…Kuroko, I want you to intermediate between me and Nijimura.”

“More interrogations?”

“No, not really.” 

“Then what? Does this have to do with his recent pledge to you?”

“In a way it does. I wish to seek a partnership with him that would benefit the both of us.”

Kuroko was now looking conflicted, his voice uncertain, “Partnership? What kind of partnership?”

“One that stems from… a romantic interest.”

"You want me, your fiancé, to help you form a healthy romantic relationship with another man?"

"Yes."

 

He could see the betrayal on Tetsuya's face and it was frustrating and upsetting for Akashi that Seijuro had control now. He wanted Seijuro to explain more, he wanted him to not ask Tetsuya in such a blunt and dull way. Testuya looked like he was going to slap him, but Seijuro held onto his hand, gently but with enough force, that it stopped the coming motion. He then took off Tetsuya's gloves, his blue eyes widening in shock as Akashi never made an attempt to take them off before. Slowly he brought Tetsuya's hands towards the skin on Akashi's temple.

"Akashi-kun, please don't. I'm sorry," He tried pulling his hands away, his voice quivering with fear, "Please, don't do this."

Kuroko pulled harder every inch his hands got closer. If the pain that Nijimura had experienced was only a small portion of Akashi's pain on a normal mind without any heightened senses, Kuroko didn't want to know what would happen to him if he were to be exposed to all of it, being an empath. His powers were heightened by bare touch, and he anticipated it would go through all mental barriers that Akashi had set up to protect him. Akashi could see it in his eyes, the thoughts he could read from Kuroko, he thought  was being punished, that he was about to be broken for disobeying.

_Seijuro, what are you doing?_

**_What I have to do._ **

_You're going to break him, don't do this._

**_I must, and do not worry._ **

Kuroko squeezed his eyes shut, too afraid to see what was coming. On contact, he felt the electrifying touch of two physic powers coming into physical contact with each other. His eyes widened in surprise.

"Your pain... how?" Tetsuya stuttered out. Akashi could hear his thoughts of how Tetsuya was shocked that his pain had receded, that it wasn't nearly as bad as it had once been, now it was more a dull thrum comparted to the raging storm he had anticipated.

"Look beyond the pain."

Kuroko closed his eyes, focusing.

"You feel confused, scared, but also calm and determined,” He stated, eyes wide with awe in finally being able to feel his fiancé’s mind, he seemed almost happy finally getting this kind of access.

"Yes, but keep feeling further."

 At first Kuroko seemed confused, but then he focused his powers further into Akashi and his mind. It was only for a few moments until he let out a soft gasp and stepped away, finally breaking free of Seijuro's grip. He didn't say anything out loud, but he didn't have to, he thought it loud enough. He had felt two different sets of feelings, that instead of being muddled together like most emotions, there were two distinct sets.

"It's like reading two people at once," He had finally said, shaking a little.

**_Now he knows._ **

_Now he's scared. We should comfort him._

**_Why?_ **

_We can't just leave him like this, at least say something_.

 Instead of saying anything he just receded into their mind, lending control back to Akashi.

**You may comfort him.**

Akashi was thankful for the first opportunity to actually touch Tetsuya and comfort him.

**But remember, he cannot comfort you as you are still me. We cannot break our promise.**

With understanding, Akashi took control of his body and moved forward, slowly putting his arms around the other. Tetsuya pushed away from him and opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, his mind screaming that this, _this was not his Akashi_. But then he looked upon Akashi and noticed the golden eye had returned. Knowing this, he let Akashi hold him in a comforting embrace, standing there together for a moment.  

"Why are you hugging me now?" His voice was neutral, but his mind tethered between thoughts of being used, and thoughts of finally moving their relationship forward.

"Because _he_ is allowing it.”

 Tetsuya's first thoughts were of ‘ _Him? Who?_ ’ but realization gradually came to him. Akashi could hear his thoughts, ‘ _Akashi-kun has two sides to him and that his other self is the one holding on to this affection_.’

"He's the one that wants Nijimura then?"  Kuroko said out loud.

"Yes, I would never betray you like that."

"What will he do if I say no?"

"I do not know. But I do know he would not hesitate to take back my allowance to hug you."

"Can you stop him?"

"No"

"Why?"

"He is me and this is his body. I cannot deny him. He has suffered too much that I do not wish to cause him anymore distress. I am born for him, and I would die for him."

"But would you not also die for me?"

 Akashi didn't respond for a while. Yes, he would definitely die for Tetsuya but this wasn’t what he was really asking for.  

"Not if it was between you and him," His thoughts soured and Tetsuya held onto him tighter.

“I don’t like this.”

He could read Tetsuya’s mind, hearing his thoughts that maybe he can break the two apart further by guiding them through their relationship, that maybe he can make the other Akashi see that he is the better choice but there was no other way.

 “But for you, my Akashi, I will help.”

“Thank you.” He said, placing the smallest and softest kiss he could on top of Kuroko’s head before walking out. Tears threatened to show in his eyes as he left his beloved. Damn, he hoped Kuroko could convince Seijuro.

Later that day, Akashi got Murasakibara and Aomine to sneak a bed from a room of a recently executed noble. If anyone asked, he would just say that Murasakibara needed another bed in order to fit all of his limbs onto his own bed (Though he already had several beds for that reason, but he doubted that anyone would notice since their maid Reo was the only one that cleaned their hall and he was very loyal to Akashi). This bed was given to Nijimura and Kuroko got his original bed back. He had refused to have a dead man’s bed and Akashi was obliged to let him have what he wanted. Later that evening Akashi called for Nijimura to come to his office.

**_Let me talk to him._ **

_Why?_

**_Because I should be the one to tell him, and because I want to talk to him too._ **

Akashi consented to the loss of control this time, but it was still an odd feeling, slowly slipping into the back of his mind; it could be compared to going underwater. Not long after that Nijimura appeared in the room. Upon immediately noticing the red eyes he moved over and hugged Seijuro without reserve, knowing this part of Akashi wouldn’t mind.

“Sei, is that you?”

“I can’t talk to you too long. I am mentally too weak since I haven’t used this body in a very long time.”

“That’s fine. Just say what you need to say,” Nijimura braced himself.

“I have planned out that you and I should see Kuroko.”

“Why?”

“It has come to my attention that if we want this to work, our relationship needs… adjustments.”

“But how is Kuroko meant to help?”

“He is an Empath. He could help a lot.”

“Yeah, but he only knows Akashi.  He doesn’t know that you, Seijuro, is still in there.”

Seijuro went silent and looked away, unable to look at Nijimura. The silence persisted for a stretched minute before Nijimura finally figured it out.

"You showed yourself to Kuroko?" He hissed.

"Yes," Seijuro responded.

"You made a promise."

"To not show weakness to others and what I showed him wasn't that. I didn’t-"

He suddenly felt dizzy and Seijuro weakly sat down, his mind moving back beside his consciousness in exhaustion. Nijimura stared at him skeptically and Akashi could tell from his thoughts that he was being too possessive given the circumstances. He could hear his streaming thoughts; that he wanted Seijuro all to himself and that he wanted to be able to hear every thought of theirs the same way Akashi could read minds.

_Hah, he wants our power to hear thoughts._

**_What?_ **

_He doesn't trust us when it comes to Tetsuya._

**_No, I know that. What do you mean he wants our power to hear thoughts?_ **

_We can hear his thoughts and so he wants the same thing, to be able to hear our thoughts._

**_How can we hear his thoughts_ ** _?_

Akashi was very confused at this.

_It is the power we obtained at the Labs._

**_Oh, I see._ You _can hear his thoughts while I cannot. That is the power you obtained at the Labs._**

_Yes. You cannot hear them?_

**_No._ **

_Then you do not have access to our power. Interesting._

**_No, I do but just a different one_ ** _._

It hit him like a ton of bricks. Seijuro had a separate power. Akashi couldn't use Seijuro's and Seijuro couldn't use Akashi's.

Before Akashi had time to question the nature of Seijuro’s separate power, he had already returned to the depths of his mind, exhausted from being in control for so long after having spent so much time staying away.

“You can leave now, Shuzo,” Akashi stated after he gained back complete control.

Nijimura stared at his golden eye for a while before softly saying, “Later then, Akashi.”

Akashi watched him leave with a long, thoughtful stare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again thanks for all the love on this fanfic, especially for a 'minor' ship. 
> 
> I'm taking a 2 week break for finals (and because I haven't written a word for the next chapter haha) so the next update will be December 20th, sorry for wait!


	8. A New Chapter of Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nijimura makes progress in multiple ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Extra long chapter (nearly twice as long) for the extra long wait! Also, big thx for my beta and everyone who has kept reading this!!

Over the past few weeks, Nijimura’s hopelessness had turned to hope.

 He originally thought that Akashi hated him with a burning passion, that giving Nijimura a chance to leave was just an attempt to get rid of him, that he hated him even more after breaking down in front of him. But his view had begun to change as Akashi visited his room every night to listen to him practicing the piano. Nijimura knew that the two sides of him didn’t agree but he didn’t know how to approach it. About the time this hope bubbled up his powers had finally come in. He had felt like a child giddy with a new gift.

Nijimura knew what triggered his powers. It was when he was thinking of Akashi; when he wanted to be beside him, he had just appeared next to Akashi. At first, he was excited to see the red head until he noticed the rest of the scene playing out before him, his mind slowly registering the fact that the maid who was practically attached to Akashi’s legs was begging to have a child with him. The weirdest part was Kuroko laughing at the scene. For a moment he had felt jealousy toward Reo before he quickly left the scene, wanting to be away from whatever that was.

That day he had tried to find any and all information about this Reo. He heard multiple accounts, a lot of vague gestures or stories that couldn’t be verified from Aomine, Murasakibara and Kise. When he had asked Midorima about his inquiry, the man had just shivered and kept walking with a warning to not mess with the maid.

The most helpful information he got was from Momoi. She had told him that he was Akashi’s self-proclaimed best friend which did seem to appear accurate when he thought about it. They had known each other in the Labs and in fact they had roomed together from the very beginning. It was said they only survived because of the other, kept each other sane, grounded to reality.

The thought made Nijimura’s heart ache, another reminder of how he failed Akashi and Sei. It seemed that no one really knew what their actual relationship was, except maybe Kuroko.

He learned that Reo had the power to change genders and even though he was overly affectionate and said stuff such as ‘Let me have your babies Sei-chan!’ he probably didn’t mean them and everyone understood that part of him. Reo was only loyal to Akashi and was the only staff member allowed in their hall keeping nosy eyes out.

But even that odd display by Akashi’s supposed best friend wasn’t the strangest moment of the week. That was probably when Sei, not Akashi, had come and told him they were getting couple’s counseling from his fiancé.

It didn’t make much sense and Nijimura had no idea where this was going. All he knew was that Akashi had allowed Sei to give him a chance.

 Of course, he was worried that Kuroko and Akashi were using this as an opportunity to break them apart, and so he needed some people on his side too.

Nijimura had switched to training with just Aomine and sometimes Kise who jumped in. Usually all they did was combat training. It was something he was well-versed in and he enjoyed keeping his fighting skills sharp.

Having to learn to use his powers to fight back and change his style of combat was difficult but no way was he going to let some punk beat him. They would spar for hours, endlessly despite the strain on his body.

Unlike Aomine and Kise, who had so many different powers at his command, Nijimura didn’t even know how to start to defend himself, let alone attack with his powers. It was definitely forcing him to get in a lot of practice facing off the dozens of powers that existed. He always lost despite his efforts and his only spot of pride was that Kise couldn’t master his teleportation either.

Nijimura had been able to finally get the gist of his teleportation power after intense training; he could appear a few feet away in the room he was in instead of appearing beside Akashi but getting the exact location he wanted was still a struggle. Especially when he had to teleport up or down. When he and Aomine weren’t sparing he was usually trying to teleport as many different ways possible. A strong desire pushed him; he wanted to become useful as quickly as possible.

Today he was sparing with Aomine, but it was a light spar. The battle was not as intense but they were still keeping their reflexes sharp and polished if need be. Nijimura had gotten into the habit of talking to Aomine about his issues. Not that Aomine ever gave him advice, but it was nice to have someone listen, even if he did ignore him at times.  

“Kuroko is giving me and Akashi couple’s counseling.”

 Aomine faltered at that and Nijimura was able to trip him up with a low sweeping kick. He hit the ground with a solid thump.

“You just said that to mess me up bastard,” Aomine complained as Nijimura helped him back up.

“No, I’m being serious.”

“No way.”

“I know right.”

Aomine went to jab at the left side of his rib cage. Nijimura dodged it, returning his attack with an uppercut only to have it miss.

“You know what this means right?”

“That my relationship is already over?”

“No, that _their_ relationship is at its weakest,” Aomine finally got a shot to his stomach and Nijimura recoiled.

“What do you mean?”

“Kuroko was already jealous and weary of you.  Now that he knows his suspicions have become reality…”

“He will be worse.” Nijimura interrupted, teleported behind him to elbow between his shoulder blades.

“No,” Aomine grunted, “He’ll be less secure about their relationship and he’ll come to me upset.”

“Giving you ample room to wedge yourself between them?”

 Aomine shrugged as he smirked, “It works for both of us doesn’t it?”

Nijimura couldn’t argue with that, “So, you’re going to tell him to break it off for good with Akashi.”

“Well, I’m definitely going to look like a better option then Akashi.”

As they finished up their sparring session, Reo walked in to restock the towels in the makeshift gym that they had apparently built into the hall by knocking down a wall between two rooms.

“Ah, Shu-chan!” Reo called out.

Nijimura had originally disliked the nickname but he had come to accept it. He figured he really couldn’t say no to Reo; it just didn’t work - it was like taking back to your mother, not to mention he never saw anyone else say no to Reo.  

“I couldn’t help but overhear your predicament.”

 Both of them froze.

They knew that Reo was very close to Akashi. Momoi may be the official gossip spy but it seemed as though Reo was a queen at hearing things, and acting on these things in unpredictable ways. Aomine had told him once he had overheard one of the nobles had been snooping around the third floor, east wing (their wing and floor).

 Reo found out and that noble wasn’t seen for months. They had finally found him in a small cottage, naked, starved and addicted to so many drugs he didn’t have long to live. He died before they could really ask what had happened. Their guess was that he was kidnapped while out for one of his daily walks and was captured and sold on the black market to drug testers (which were a thing? Apparently).

That was all the evidence he needed to know he should beware of Reo.

“Don’t worry, I would never do anything to hurt Sei-chan, including hurting his friends; even those attempting to mess with his engagement. He has saved my life before,” Reo said reassuringly.

That didn’t make them any less nervous. In fact, it made him more frightened knowing that Reo wasn’t going to ignore them just like that.  

“I also see that Sei-chan isn’t being true to himself. I just want him to be happy and he hasn’t been that way with Tetsu-chan. But he does seem very interested in you, Shu-chan.”

“So, are you going to help us?” Aomine asked hopefully.

Nijimura hoped that was the case because in all honesty, having Reo on their side would be the best case scenario, probably even better than having Kuroko on their side.

“No. I’ll tell you want I can since you all seem too stupid to actually talk to each other. In the end, it is Sei-chan’s choice so if I hear anything…unsavory, then know you have incurred my wrath,” He threatened, then smiled like he always did and turned to walk out of the room. It left the hairs on his arms sticking up, adrenaline racing through his veins.

“Why does Akashi’s best friend have to be crazy?”

“At least we kind of got a blessing?” Aomine responded, shrugging, throwing his arms up. “He won’t interfere so long as we don’t do something real stupid.”

The two left it at that and departed from each other for the day.

After cooling down and taking a shower, Nijimura was summoned by Akashi and Kuroko. It was time for them to attempt to figure out whatever this mess was. Nijimura was not looking forward to it.

He quickly got dressed in his jeans and a T-shirt. Reo had come by previously and given him more clothing appropriate for someone living inside the royal palace but he felt most comfortable in his casual attire. He walked down the hall to Akashi’s office with his stomach and mind in turmoil due to anxiety. He took in a deep breath, attempting to calm himself, before opening the door. He looked around the lit office, but it seemed as though Akashi and Kuroko had not made it yet.

The space had several dark leather couches near a bookcase on the left side of the room. The right side was dominated by a large oak desk. The whole room was painted a gloomy grey. There were no windows filling the room with shadows from the dim bulb in the celling. The space felt small even though the room was fairly decent with its spacing.  

When Akashi and Kuroko did finally come in, they were silent, avoiding each other’s gaze. Yet both walked in purposefully with strength in their steps. Wordlessly they sat down on the couch. Nijimura took a seat next to Akashi on the largest couch. He was going to sit right next to Akashi, but the look Kuroko gave him made him think again. Instead he sat with enough room for another person between them. Akashi raised an eyebrow but decided to not question him.  

The tense silence seemed to stretch endlessly in the room. It was finally interrupted when Kuroko opened a folder and began to speak.

“So for today I will just gauge your current relationship status as it is. From there I will decide how best to go about helping you two. I think what I will do first is talk to you each, individually. Then I will see your interactions together. Please decide who will go first.”

Akashi nodded with ease while Nijimura stiffly twitched his head up then down.

Nijimura was electrified with nerves and before he even knew what he was really doing he teleported out of the room and into the, so he didn’t have to be questioned by Kuroko first. Luckily there was a bench in the hallway that he sat on. He thought he would use this time to calm himself down but instead the anticipation made him more anxious and jittery. By the time Akashi opened the door to let him in, he felt like he was going to puke. Akashi gave him a soft smile, his crimson eyes full of kindness.

_You will do fine, don’t worry._

Nijimura couldn’t even respond to that; he just pushed through the doors before he barfed on Akashi. He sat down on the couch in front of Kuroko, who looked slightly more pissed than earlier, but it was hard to tell with his neutral face. Kuroko started to ask questions but Nijimura didn’t hear anything and it seemed to him that the world spun with defeating white noise.

“Uh,” Nijimura swallowed, blinking away the nausea.

“I’ll ask again,” Kuroko said slowly, as if speaking to a child. “What is Akashi Seijuro to you?”

Nijimura’s answer was immediate, and his voice had no trouble speaking past the previous lump in his throat, “My master, my prince, my everything.”

“So you’re obsessed with him?” Kuroko said blankly. His eyebrows were raised, inquisitive eyes boring into him.

Nijimura felt his face heat up. He didn’t want to admit it, but it _did_ seem that way.

“He’s what helped me get through the Labs. I’ve always had him in my mind and I need to stop pushing down these feeling I have for him.”

Kuroko’s stare became critical and his voice even more so, “And do you think that thoughts of you helped Akashi through the Labs? Or through anything actually? When have you actually ever helped Akashi?”

Nijimura frowned at Kuroko’s icy tone; his fingers dug into the thick leather of the couch with the growing tension, “What?”

“Let’s cut the crap,” Kuroko fixed his stare on him, eyes unmoving. “What did you do for Akashi that helped him? You split him apart. What do you think you are doing with him now? He needs someone who is going to help him recover from his trauma, _not_ cause him anymore mental strain.”

Nijimura’s voice was firm and he stared right back at Kuroko, “I need him. He makes me whole.”

Kuroko reeled at the sudden and sincere admission in his tone. His voice soured considerably, “So, this is all about you?”

 Nijimura was quick to correct him, “No, it’s not all about me. He needs me as much as I need him.”

“Needs you for what?”

Nijimura scowled when he continued to press on him, “Emotional support. To protect him, to make him happy. Isn’t that obvious?”

“And why you?” Kuroko leaned back into the couch, “Why not, say, me?”

“Because, it’s what Sei wants.” And what he wanted too.

“So, you don’t actually think you’re good for him? That I’m better for him?”

Jealously spiked through Nijimura and he could tell Kuroko felt his blood riling when he wrinkled his nose in distaste.  

“That doesn’t matter.” Nijimura spat, his tone strained with a growl.

Kuroko put his face into his palms and sighed into them. “Akashi, or well, the original…”

“Sei.”

“Fine, Seijuro. He is just as genuinely obsessed with you. To be honest, I’m not sure what I can say to you.”

 He got up and called Akashi into the room. When he came back in, they talked about what they felt for each other. It pretty much boiled down to them admitting that even though they didn’t know the other anymore as well as they used to, they still wanted to regress to what they used to have.

Kuroko looked at them both in the eyes; he was determined to get his message across and he spoke slowly for them, “What you had is in the past. It was the bond between innocent children. Now you two have grown up through the years both changed people. You will never get back what you once had, so why bother trying? Why not give it up before you hurt each other again?”

They both sat there in silence, contemplating what Kuroko had said. As much as Nijimura hated to admit it, what Kuroko said held tiny fragments of truth.  However, it did not sway Nijimura’s determination.

Nijimura was about to speak when he a red blur in the corner of his eye causing him to stutter to a stop as he turned his head to see what had happened on the other side of the couch. Akashi had collapsed. Kuroko and Nijimura both shot up, running over to him as they shouted his name.

“Akashi, you in there? “When Nijimura leaned closer, his eye was practically orange with how much the gold fought the red, mixing into an incomprehensible soup. Nijimura felt his breath hitched and his worry spike. He was surprised that he could even talk with all the fear clogging his mind, “Akashi? Sei? Talk to me.”

He did not respond, just sitting mutely in place before he abruptly shot up and righted himself, however he did not speak and his gaze did not change. Kuroko came over and placed his hands on Akashi’s temples. Nijimura suddenly felt defensive and his lips tugged down into a slight scowl.

Kuroko must’ve noticed because he gave him a hard look, “I cannot read his emotions without touching him.” He seemed to concentrate before opening his eyes again, “Hm, his emotions are a jumbled mess, I have no idea what is happening.”

Just as he finished Akashi began shouting. Kuroko’s eyes widened and he immediately released his grip on Akashi and took a few startled steps back.

“Why are we doing this? It makes no sense!”

“We’ve been over this. You agreed to give Nijimura a try.” He began to argue with himself aloud, his eyes changing color every few seconds.

“But this has only confirmed that he is not for us.”

“Not for you, you mean.”

Akashi then again went silent, finally his eye stopped altering color and remained gold.

“I believe it would be best if we stopped for today and continue this tomorrow.”

Nijimura slowly nodded along with Kuroko. Akashi stood up and practically stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut. Nijimura teleported out, straight to the gym to sort out his thoughts and to work out his remaining aggression. Kuroko was trying to break them apart, and he brought up good reasoning for that too. Doubts started to smother his thoughts; What was he actually doing chasing Akashi?

 

 

He trained until the evening then decided to teleport into the kitchen, take some food, and then teleport back into his room to eat dinner alone. After his dinner he decided to meditate, contemplating his thoughts.

 Kuroko was well prepared to tear them apart and he needed to figure out his own reasons for what he was doing, why he was more right than Kuroko. After hours of searching from every possible angle, he could only find one good answer: Sei wanted him; more than Kuroko. And Akashi was willing to go along with it while Sei would never accept Kuroko as his partner.

A few days later Reo came for him again while he was finishing his lunch. Nijimura felt more prepared this time. He had time to think about his own feelings for Akashi. They both were willing to make this work and they both liked each other. Wasn’t that worth a try?

It was enough.  

He entered the room, the same one as before, and Kuroko and Akashi seemed to be already talking. It seemed to be telepathic since they were not saying anything. He could tell the conversation was uncomfortable by the way Kuroko’s nose wrinkled with distaste.

They both turned upon his entrance into the room. Akashi gave a small almost non-existent smile as Nijimura sat down. His eyes were red today so that was a good sign.

“Sei, are you okay?” Nijimura tried whispering even when he knew it wouldn’t matter too much. Kuroko was right in front of them after all.

“Yes, it seems as though my alternate is finally holding up to his promise and he will not be joining us today.”

Kuroko intervened smoothly, “Back to where we left off the other day. Ah yes, the fact that your attraction has no reasoning.”

“They do have reasons or else we wouldn’t be here.” Akashi gently responded.  

“Yes, those reasons only being that you were close as children and now you want that bond back.”

“You don’t believe we can be close again?”

“No, you can be close. Friends are close are they not? Is that not also what you were to each other as children?” Kuroko’s eyes turned away, “Why seek a romantic relationship?”

“Even as children our bond was something that I shared with no other. A romantic relationship is just a natural evolution of our past relationship.”

“Have you thought that maybe you had no other friends as a child, therefore this seems logical while it is just misunderstood? And what about Reo? You have known him and been close to him for almost just as long, but you keep him only as a friend.”

“But we were never as close as Nijimura and myself.”

Kuroko turned to him again, “Because of a promise a young child made that you forced yourself to keep?”

Akashi pressed his lips together, “I like to see it as devotion.”

“He actually abandoned and broke you. What has your so-called devotion brought you?”

“I’ve hurt him too.”

“Exactly, so what relationship based off of the pain you cause each other could be healthy?”

Nijimura wanted to butt in, to be apart of the conversation that was deciding their fate. But he couldn’t find the voice to speak; he grappled with his mind, trying to will his vocal cords into action.

“But we are willing to look past our mistakes. What matters most of all now is that we’re willing to try.” Nijimura finally spoke past the lump in his throat; his eyes stared defiantly back to Kuroko’s stone gaze.

Kuroko scoffed, matching his stare, “Trying? What if that gets you nowhere? Why bother trying when your foundations are so warped?”

“I think that it’s worth it!” He shouted, startling both himself and the others in the room. He could not hold back his determination any longer, he couldn’t deny himself of that. He stood up, posture firm and steady. “If I’m willing to give it my all, willing to give him my everything and him to me, then isn’t all that matters? What’s wrong with trying? Isn’t that the way people court each other in the first place?

 He turned slightly to see Akashi’s features soften under his gaze and he gave a nod. He thought the same. They had a chance.

Kuroko stood up too, he was rigid with a cold simmering anger, “That’s it. I’m done here. I’m not going to help you anymore.”  

He swiftly left the room without another word, as if he were a shadow fleeing the light. Akashi looked slightly worried at this and not long after, his eye flashed golden and he too left the room, most likely to talk to his current fiancé.

Nijimura spent the rest of the day in between being giddy and excited and nervous of Akashi’s squad coming after him for upsetting Kuroko. Nijimura was lucky and no one came to throttle him, but Akashi didn’t seek him out either.

Akashi called together a meeting the next day with everyone there. To his surprise, Nijimura was invited to join in. There was little reason behind it besides the fact that Akashi wanted him there so no one questioned his presence at a meeting for a squad he wasn’t a part of. Everyone except Kuroko who questioned his appearance almost immediately.

“What is Nijimura-san doing here?”

“He’s here because I asked him.”

“And why did you do that Akashi-kun?”

“I figured it would help him become integrated to the squad. If he is going to join us I want him to be prepared at the very least.”

Kuroko glared at Akashi.  

“But he isn’t one of us.”

“Yet.”

Akashi-kun…”

“Tetsuya, we are done here.”

Kuroko went silent and Akashi started the meeting. They first went over some boring reports and thoughts about the shrinking rebellion. It seemed that Momoi and Reo were not attending the meeting, so they skipped over the usual castle gossip and politics that none of the squad seemed to be acquainted with but they much preferred sticking to their own wing only leaving for official business or missions. They talked about some stuff that Nijimura didn’t really remember before moving to Akashi’s main topic.

“So, it seems as though my father is amassing an army from the reports I have read. He has doubled his efforts for recruits, even as going so far as forcing those who had been in the Labs into mandatory service. It appears as though he is planning some sort of attack, or defense. Without the house gossip though, I have little information outside the official reports.”

“Do you think that he might be planning to attack the Black Kingdom?”

“If so, it would be all out war.”

They continued to discuss the topic and what it might mean for the Red Kingdom and their own squad. If it was a war, would they be pulled in too? Would they be willing to do so? They soon moved onto the-

“Satsu-chan has been captured!” Reo barged in, frantic. The room went silent with shock.  

“How?” Akashi demanded, his golden eye practically radiating. Nijimura looked around the room and it seemed as though all of them had turned into beasts waiting to be released, all tense and faces hard, eyes boiling with anger.

“Lord Hanamiya found her snooping around your father’s monthly meeting. Apparently he had been planning to capture her for a while and by the time I heard that, it was much too late for me to do anything.”

“Do you know where she is now?”

“It seems as though she was taken to your father’s dungeons in Lab five though I can’t get in. From what I’ve heard, they wouldn’t let you in either Sei-chan.”

 Akashi seemed to have his composure intact but it surprised everyone when he slammed his fist onto the table, “Damn. How do we get in?”

Nijimura found himself speaking before he knew it, “I can teleport in.”

They all turned to him. There was hope on their faces, but Akashi looked conflicted.

“You can’t go in there alone.” Midorima declared, pushing his glasses up, “You have never dealt with the Red Kingdom’s elite guard, not to mention, you should never go on a mission alone.” He pointily glared at Akashi who ignored him. Reo looked disappointed but not overly so as he caught onto the comment.

It was Kuroko who spoke up next, “Then I will go with him.”

“Tetsuya…”

“I have low presence and being an empath, I know how she feels so I can find her. We can’t risk any heavy hitters causing havoc and being recognized. That would just cause more trouble for us all.” He stated. His logic was sound.

Akashi looked hesitant, but relented, “Fine, Shuzo and Tetsuya will go and retrieve Satsuki. There is to be no mention of this and everyone is to act as if they know nothing. Shuzo and Tetsuya, you should leave immediately. I trust that you know where you’re going?” Kuroko nodded. Before walking out, Nijimura followed him.

“Where are we going?”

“You remember the lab you were sent to? That is lab five. Can you teleport us in?”

“I can try.” He took Kuroko’s hand in his own. It was an odd feeling; it was so warm and small. Akashi’s hands in comparison had always been so cold.

They ended up in a dark room after a moment of concentration, his old pit of hell. It seemed as though the room they had held him in was not in use much to his relief since there was no-one they had to deal with alongside the fact that the cameras were down and de-activated.

“Great, you placed us in a cage. You know you can’t open this door from the inside?”

“I know, this was my room. It was the only place that I could visualize enough to get this far,” Nijimura shrugged off Kuroko’s scrutinizing look, “Not to mention I can just teleport us into the hall.”

Nijimura took Kuroko’s hand and attempted to teleport out of the room. However nothing happened and they both stood there in silence.

“What? What’s going on?”

His head suddenly felt distant and he could see himself fall, but he couldn’t feel it. Everything felt like it was happening in slow motion. Kuroko passed his vision and it looked like he was saying something but Nijimura couldn’t hear anything past the muffled blur in his head. His vision flickered in and out before all he knew was the black world around him.  

As quickly as he had gone under, he seemed to surface again. His eyes suddenly opened, and he felt a stinging on his cheeks as if he had been slapped. His vision cleared and he saw that Kuroko was staring down at him. His face pulled into a displeased scowl but could have been mistaken as a neutral grimace.  

“How far have you teleported before today?”

“To the other side of the castle.”

“Alone?”

“No. Murasakibara and I would go to the kitchens and back.”

He released a short huff of air, “Well then it shouldn’t be too bad. But it seems as though you haven’t flexed your teleportation much so you blacked out from overuse. I hope you can get us out of here with Momoi-san.”

“Don’t worry, it will be fine,” Nijimura said as he waved his hand dismissively.

Kuroko gave him a pointed glare, “Don’t say things you’re uncertain of. You have no idea what will happen. You’ve never gone this far with your power, let alone with two passengers. I can feel your unease.”

He got up to look around the room. He seemed to be looking for an exit, his eyes scanning the edges of the room.

“Well I’m fine now. I can just teleport us out.”

“No, we can’t risk you passing out in the hallway. Plus it’s best if we let your powers recharge as much as possible. Or did you forget you just blacked out for about an hour?” He turned away, mumbling under his breath, “I don’t know what Akashi sees in you.”

Nijimura stared after him, “What does it matter what Akashi thinks of me?”

Kuroko’s stare hardened, “It matters because I’m wrapped up in this too. We each have half of a whole and I…I…” His voice trailed off distantly.

The door suddenly opened. Nijimura and Kuroko quickly overcame the shock of the unexpected intrusion and took advantage of an exit. Before the janitor could say anything, they rushed at him, knocking him down hard enough force to render him unconscious.

The pair quickly ran down the hall with Kuroko leading the way since it seemed he knew where he was going. It made sense since he called this place home for years (Children had a much longer process due to them also receiving an education). It wasn’t long until the alarm went off however. Someone must have discovered the unconscious janitor.

Eventually they made their way to the room which Momoi was in. She was screaming and apparently Kuroko could tell hers apart, his ability to feel her emotions also helped. They busted in there without much of a plan or grace. They just went ham hitting everyone they possibly could before they had time to draw their weapons, and apparently this worked.

 They were able to free Momoi and were about to teleport out of the room when a whole squadron of guards crashed through a hidden entrance to the room, startling Nijimura causing him to lose focus on teleporting and instead flee. Nijimura grabbed Momoi and raced out of the room, Kuroko practically being ignored, followed after him just as quickly.

However, it wasn’t long until they were forced into another room by gun fire. They quickly closed the door and placed any and all furniture in front of the door; a bed and chair. Nijimura then grabbed the Kuroko and Momoi and tried teleporting but his mind was racing with too much adrenaline and-

“Now we are trapped in another room. Nijimura-san, you really are worthy of the crown prince. I’m glad he prefers your protection over mine.” Kuroko’s voice dripped with venomous sarcasm. 

Nijimura whipped around, his temper riled. His scowl deepened with Kuroko’s sarcasm, “What is your deal?! We have bigger things to worry about.”

“So you don’t consider Akashi-kun as important? That he isn’t ‘big’ enough to worry about?”

Nijimura’s brow twitched, “Huh? No! Do you really want to hash this out right now?”

Kuroko turned away, miffed, “Not like you’re good for much more.”

Nijimura felt bitterness in his mouth at Kuroko’s distasteful attitude; his heart pounded, obscuring the loud gunfire outside the room, “Wow, just wow. It’s a good thing Sei doesn’t listen to you.”

The other returned his glare with a huff, “And he listens to you? You two almost never talk!”

“Why is it so important that you are by Akashi’s side rather then me? We both are devoted to him!”

Kuroko stood voice louder than he’s ever heard him, “I’m trying to change this nation! The best way to that is where I am by Akashi-kun’s side.”

Nijimura sighed, releasing the building rage, his mental fatigue of the past few days catching up to him forcing him to calm down. His voice steadied despite the adrenaline pounding against his heart, “Look we are both trying to change the country. I’m not the enemy.”

Kuroko still looked defensive, but it seemed to be slowly draining out of him “You’re right, but…”

Nijimura watched as he slumped against the wall. There was a silence other then the sound coming from the bullets pounding against the door and the muffled shouts of the guards from behind their barricade.

Kuroko began to speak; his voice had lost his sharp edge, replaced with sadness, “To be honest, the marriage was only a political move. It wasn’t based on any real feelings. He was just trying to protect me like he protects us all. I was the most outspoken against the Kingdom, so I needed the most protection. Even if there were feelings, they went unsaid, and we never acted on them. Everything was for show. It was an act but it was act that I think me and Akashi-kun both started to buy into. I guess I’m just sad to see the curtains close on it.”

Kuroko curled into himself more after the admission. Nijimura didn’t need to be an empath to know that Kuroko needed comfort. Nijimura felt off about it, uncertain if he should approach him, but he went over anyway and put his arm around the smaller man, placing his hand on his head and ruffling his hair.

“Kuroko, I know that we aren’t the best of friends or anything close, but I know that neither of us are as awful as we seem to each other, I think our circumstances distorted our perception of each other. Aomine always talks about how amazing you are after all and I don’t think he’s that bad at judging character, and everyone seems to rely on you.”

Kuroko lifted his head, “Aomine… he talks to you about me?”

Nijimura snorted sporting a grin, “Talk about you? He preaches about you! It’s like you’re the only thing in his life.”

“...Is that so…” Kuroko went silent for a moment, thinking.

“Yeah, he’s still there for you, and so is Akashi-kun even though... well, you know.”

“I know,” Kuroko smiled slightly, “I guess I’ve become too focused on Akashi-kun and worried that he didn’t need me anymore so much these past months to the point I forgot that other people are relying on me.”

Kuroko came out of his little ball more and Nijimura could see tracks of tears.  Kuroko wiped them away before any comment could be made.  

“But right now, I’m relying on you. So, if you could?”

Nijimura grabbed a hold of Kuroko’s arm and slinging Momoi over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, he concentrated on teleporting out of the room as guards banged on the door. Kuroko was staring at the door, but he also seemed to emit a sense of calm.

Finally gathering the strength, he tried teleporting back to the castle. Nothing. Back to the third floor. Nothing. Back to Akashi – Ah there.

He felt the familiar tug in his gut right as the door burst open with gun fire. He pulled himself through space, but just before he could enter it, he felt a hot streak of pain against his leg. Before he had time to think about it, he blinked twice, and then saw a well composed Akashi looking down on him with a leveled gaze.

“Hey there.” Nijimura slurred out before his world went black for the second time.

The next thing Nijimura knew was that there was a soft rosy light coming from behind his eyelids. Nijimura slowly opened his eyes. Despite the light being small, it blinded him. He tried to blink the blurs from his eyes and move his body to sit up to get better bearings. That was when he found that he couldn’t move his right leg, not really anyways.

“You shouldn’t try moving around too much. It’s been a full day since you heroically passed out in front of Akashi.”

“Where is he?” His voice was scratchy, unused for so long. He turned to see that it was Aomine sitting there. They were in his room and it seemed to be evening from what he could tell.

“He would be here but Tetsu took him outside the room to talk to him. I think it had something to do with you.”

“Me? Oh no,” Nijimura’s thoughts warped with dread.

Aomine waved a hand, “I wouldn’t be that worried. Tetsu is the one who patched you up with Akashi and he seemed almost happy to do so.”

Confusion flitted through his head. He wanted to go out and hear exactly what they were saying about him.

When he shifted a little, a dry pain seared across his leg. He looked up to Aomine, “My leg?”

“It seems as though you got shot in the leg. It was a harsh graze, but that’s all. I wouldn’t worry about it too much since it isn’t fatal and should heal up in a few days.”

Akashi and Kuroko walked in through the doors. Nijimura turned to see them.

“Tetsuya has been informing me about your mission.”

Nijimura gulped inaudibly. Hopefully Kuroko said nothing about their little spat over Akashi.

 “Tetsuya has recommended that you should be allowed to join my squadron.”

It took a moment for Nijimura to fully comprehend what was being said. Kuroko had recommended him to join their little club.

“When you have healed, and if you are willing, I have approved a formal test for you take to be initiated into the 13th squadron.” Akashi continued without emotion, his eyes unwavering.

“Y-yeah, okay.”

Nijimura coughed past his awkward stutter as Aomine gave a ghastly laugh. They stayed in the room a bit longer telling him that both Kuroko and Momoi would be fine and sends her gratitude. She would have done so in person, but she was determined to figure out what she had missed during the meeting and gone off to collect more information. Eventually, they left him to sleep.  

It went like this for a few days, him lying there in his room. Eventually Kuroko and Midorima decided that Nijimura could walk on his healing leg. After two more days of getting his leg used to carrying weight, they deemed him fit enough for his mission. The next day he would be one of them, no longer an outsider to their group.

Nijimura had woken up hours ago and currently was attempting to school his features to indifference. However, his excitement made him jittery and the rush of adrenaline to pass the mission made him get dressed and cleaned up ages ago. He fixed his hair again before he heard a subtle knock on the door. Reo entered without being let in, smiling at him.

“Are you ready?”

 He nodded.

“Good, because there won’t be another chance.”

That was all Reo said before he was led from the room down the hall and to the fourth floor. He had never been down here before and it seemed to be decorated with weapons. All the rooms seemed to be large meeting places. They had one on the third floor but it wasn’t nearly as big or posh.

Reo eventually stopped in front of a door and motioned Nijimura to them, wishing him good luck as he did so.

Nijimura stood out of the door, taking a deep breath. He had nothing fancy to wear, just downright casual in his jeans and black T-shirt, but even wearing them didn’t take away his nerves. He knew what awaited him behind those doors. He exhaled as he pushed open the doors.

The room was full of bright natural morning light passing through the large glossy windows. The room was all white with gold trim while large marble columns stretched up to the ceiling, seemingly going on forever. In the center of the room sat Akashi on a golden chair. They seemed to have taken his throne and moved it into this room since the ceremony couldn’t be held in the main hall, mostly because Nijimura was a former enemy that some may still recognize.

Akashi sat on his throne with a practiced casual, yet graceful posture. He was dressed in his black military uniform with the heavy overcoat on his shoulders. The other members of the third-floor east wing were standing off to the sides. It was a mix of proper serious expressions and smirks. Kuroko came from behind him and walked up next to Akashi who smoothly stood.

Nijimura kneeled in front of Akashi as he began his monologue, “Nijimura, this is your first official mission. If you fail, you will be abandoned, but if you pass you are welcomed into the 13th Squadron, led by myself, Prince Akashi Seijuro. You are to go into the records room, kept in the basement of this building, and burn or delete all records of yourself within the hour. You are to be reborn, and we don’t want rumors of our squadron accepting a former enemy spy. After all the evidence is gone, it wouldn’t matter if people recognize you, they will have no proof. Do you accept?”

“I do,” He was giddy on adrenaline, waiting to be released.

“Then your mission starts now.”

He quickly teleported to the first floor and took the steps down into the basement. He hadn’t known if he had been here before or not since he was knocked out when he was taken to the dungeons and delirious when he left. He couldn’t see any doors leading to the basement but he knew that there had to be one.

Eventually, he decided he had no other choice but to teleport down. He had luckily found himself in a hall and not a wall or dirt. He looked around and rushed through every room while dodging the sparse amount of security guards. The number of personnel was small, probably because the other guards couldn’t find the door either and didn’t know how to report for duty. Eventually he finally found the records room.

It was huge; even the word was an underestimation. It was as if it was a separate realm, a realm where he could lose himself. Fortunately, it was practically abandoned, allowing him to do as he pleased.

He checked the time briefly; it had taken him about twenty minutes to find the room. At this pace he would have to work faster now than he initially thought he would.

 He first hacked the computer - bless the Black Kingdom’s spy teachers for that - and started deleting any files with his name. While the computer processed this, he glanced up where the paper files corresponding to his name, including the reports Aomine submitted, and a document about his initial capture.

When he found them, he started a trashcan fire to burn away any physical documents. He teleported the small bucket of flame outside near an abandoned path in order to avoid activating the smoke alarms. Once that was done, he had twenty-five minutes left.

Now for the fun part: finding any file that held any description of him and removing them. Luckily the only paper files he found were of his prison transfer and his lab reports. They didn’t seem to keep many anonymous reports outside of those concerning the Labs.

He spent the last fifteen minutes going through all of the computer files and deleting them individually; there were only really a few that could point to him. Once done with that, he restarted the computer.

He teleported out of there right away as he heard a door on the opposite side of the expansive room open. Mission completed.

When he returned to the room, they were all huddled around a computer that Midorima was sitting at. Akashi and Kuroko were talking quietly not far off. They all turned towards him.

“How did I do?” He asked, slightly out of breath.

“Almost five minutes to spare. I say you did well,” Kuroko announced.

“But what of the task?” Akashi looked over at Midorima.

“I cannot find any files with connections to him. Reo and Satsuki will have checked the paper versions by the morning. It appears to me as a success.” He reported.

The others -well mainly Kise, Aomine, Satsuki and Reo- cheered and whooped.

“Well then, Nijimura,” Akashi’s eyes were both red when they turned to him, a soft smile gracing his features. He came over, and pulled a sword off the wall. Nijimura kneeled, lowering his head towards his prince.

“Now, do you Nijimura Shuzo, pledge your loyalty to the Red Kingdom and her monarchs?”

Nijimura looked up, and for a moment he forgot to breathe. The dying light of the day was shining and caused Akashi to glow in ethereal light, looking every bit of the god he was to him.

“Akashi, I could never pledge to the monarch of the Red Kingdom, not now as it is. I pledge my loyalty and allegiance full heartedly to you Akashi Seijuro, the future king of the Red Kingdom, and then after that I pledge myself to the land of my birth, the Red Kingdom.”

Everyone in the room smiled as Akashi knighted him.

“Welcome to the hell that is the 13th squadron. Please do try and keep up with the others.”

With that, he turned and walked out of the room. Kuroko came over to him, eyes bright as he handed him a collection of black clothes. His official uniform, he really was one of them now.

“You’ve earned it,” Kuroko said before leaving the room.

Nijimura mind was alight with sheer joy and he and the others went off to raid the kitchens in victory. They stole all the food that they could carry. Kise had dropped a metal plate and it landed with a jarring clang against the floor. Before they could be found out, they all raced back to their dinner room enjoying the rest of the day in food comas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed! I can't wait to hear what you all think!  
> 


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